Residents could face bigger council tax rises as the community council portion of the precept could be set to rise again if town and community councils take on public toilets that Ceredigion council can no longer afford to run.

Plans to hike fees and pass public conveniences throughout the county over to town and community councils to run were signed off at a full council meeting on 29 February.

Cllr Gwyn James warned that some councils could have to “double their precept to take on toilets to keep them open for tourists and that’s not fair.”

Council leader Cllr Bryan Davies said the county council has “had conversations with all town and community councils on this.”

“The response has been excellent, and they can run the toilets cheaper,” he said.

“It was heartening to hear how keen certain areas were to take over the toilets.”

Members heard that some underused toilets will still be closed if they aren’t taken over by community councils, with those remaining in county council control set to see a fee hike from 30p to 40p.

Members heard that some community councils have already amended their precepts, raising the cost to residents, in a bid to take over toilets.

More are set to follow suit for next year as the county council aims for more savings.

A report said: “The proposal allows the council to maintain public toilet provision through an overall balanced budget.

“Without the cost recovery many of the services would be unsustainable with current resources and could potentially cease.

“It is a fine balancing act between being able to provide the service with current resource constraints whilst not making the service too expensive as to make it unaffordable for residents or to reduce provision that would impact on access to facilities.”

The changes are estimated to save Ceredigion County Council £100,000.