PLANS to demolish public toilets in Trawden have angered villagers.

Pendle Council has announced plans to get rid of the toilets in Rock Lane to save money on cleaning and maintenance.

The toilets are on the route to Wycoller, visited by thousands of tourists every year.

And the landlord of the nearby Rock Hotel, Barry Ricketts, is afraid that when the toilets go people will ask to use the loo at his hotel.

He said: "As it is, I am always directing people to the public toilets.

"But we are on a water meter here which means that every time someone flushes the toilet I have to pay for it. And I have no wish to turn the hotel into a public toilet.

"On the other hand I would not want to turn people away if they were desperate."

Mr Ricketts is writing to Pendle Council to object to the plans and he will attend the next meeting of Trawden Forest Parish Council to ask for their support.

John Kirk, Pendle Council services director said: "The council's Colne area committee made the decision to close and demolish the toilets.

"While there may be a number of people who want to keep the toilets open , there may be others who consider the toilets a nuisance with groups of youths congregating round them."

A report to councillors in May described the Rock Lane toilets as 1950s-built basic facilities in need of substantial refurbishment and prone to vandalism.

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