PUBLIC toilets in Devizes are in their dire state because of years of neglect by Kennet District Council, say town councillors.

Coun Ray Taylor said at a meeting on Tuesday the district council has neglected the toilets in the town to the extent they have become dilapidated and a bad advertisement for Devizes.

He hit out at a recommendation that Kennet demolish all the existing public loos in the town and replace them with one attended "super loo", probably on the site of the present one in the west central car park behind the Shambles market hall.

He said: "It is difficult not to see this as another cost-cutting exercise. We need more tangible evidence than we have been given to substantiate the need for this scheme."

Councillors voted to appeal to Kennet to give more consideration to the provision of public conveniences, tell them that the town council does not want to take on the service and suggest a local person is employed to do the cleaning.

Community and civic resources committee chairman Peter Evans, one of the architects of Kennet's plan for public conveniences in the district, said toilet facilities in Devizes needed urgent attention.

He said: "The toilets at the Wharf and in Station Road are in a shocking state and irrespective of how people try to keep them clean and tidy, it proves an uphill struggle."

He said a team of cleaners goes round all 13 public conveniences in the district, cleaning them twice a day.

He had recommended Kennet's suggestion that the town council should take over the running of the toilets on the Green, which were recently renovated. The loos at the Wharf and Station Road should be demolished completely. But his colleagues went against it.

A spokesman for Kennet District Council said: "The remarks about the condition of the toilets are very unfair. We have spent a lot of money on them over the years and they are in as good condition as they can be."