Discussions are ongoing about whether vandal-hit public toilets should be reopened, with repairs set to cost thousands. 

Bedale Town Council said the results of a public consultation about whether it should carry on funding the toilets in the Bridge Street Car Park, despite ongoing issues with vandalism, were inconclusive.

The council took over responsibility for the toilets from Hambleton District Council in 2016 to ensure that they were kept open, and £18,000 was given to help pay for the upkeep. But members have been told previously that sum had long since gone on repair and maintenance bills.

The authority spends up to £10,000 a year to keep the toilets going, and after the latest bout of vandalism it decided to hold the consultation.

Clerk Nick Reed said the favourite choice was to keep the toilets open but with a lot more money spent to bring facilities up to scratch. He said the authority would not be able to do this in the next few years because of restrictions on the council tax precept.

He said 52 per cent of people wanted to close the toilets and 48 per cent wanted them to stay open. He told councillors: “There wasn’t really a definitive answer.”

He said after discussions with Hambleton Council to see what the legal situation might be if the town council pulled out, they had said funds could be available to help improve CCTV and security.

The disabled toilets have been repaired and are currently open but Mr Reed said the other toilets had not been open for two months awaiting repairs. Only had one complaint had been received, with market traders making alternative arrangements. More public toilets, operated by the town council, are open at Bedale Hall Park.

Members agreed to wait another month and carry on discussions with Hambleton over potential funds.

  • Councillors were told a well used cut through from the rear to the front of the Market Place in Bedale had been closed off by Morrisons supermarket after the firm took over the former Tesco. The passageway is not an official public right of way so the company was within their rights to stop people using it and there had been complaints of anti social behaviour and litter from residents living behind, near where the former telephone exchange had been. Members agreed it was a concern because it had been well used by people coming from Firby Road and Masham Road and avoiding the narrow pathways on Sussex Street into the Market Place.