Loo of the Year 2002: The refurbished toilets on The Green.PUBLIC toilets in Devizes were condemned as nasty and disgusting in a survey carried out last summer and published in a new report.

As part of a best value review of public conveniences in Kennet district, Devizes town centre manager Janet Duffield canvassed the opinion of toilet users in June.

The findings led to a recent report from Kennet District Council's environment and amenity services manager, Mark Smith, in which he recommended all should be closed and a new staffed block should be built.

He recommended there should be a 10p charge.

Mrs Duffield's survey found a lot to praise at the conveniences on The Green, which had £90,000 spent on it in 1999 and won a Loo of the Year award in 2002. It is the least used of any in the town. In fact, only one man used it during the period of Mrs Duffield's survey and he said he thought it was very good, with no graffiti and good privacy.

Despite Station Road toilet block's reputation as a rendezvous for drunks and gay sex, it received a positive review from users. Comments included: "Smell clean better than Frome, Hastings or Bath", and "toilet clean, flush worked and there was soap".

The conveniences at the entrance to the West Central car park in New Park Street did far worse. A local taxi driver was concerned about the strong smell of disinfectant affecting people with asthma and other breathing problems.

Comments from users of the women's toilet included appalling, grim and extremely poor.

The comments on the Wharfside toilets were also far from complimentary. Users of the men's toilet said it was smelly and needed a new floor and a good steam clean.

Users of the women's loo said it was in desperate need of renovation, and was nasty and primitive.

Kennet councillors will be asked to consider the provision of public conveniences throughout the district. They could decide to end it completely, as it is not one of their statutory obligations.

But they are more likely to go along with Mr Smith's recommendations, which include closing all the loos in Kennet and building two new ones, one each in Marlborough and Devizes.

They would be of a very high quality and would be attended all the time. Users would be asked to pay an entrance fee, likely to be set, initially at least, at 10p.

The other public toilets will be offered to the local town or district council to run. If the council declines the offer, the land will be sold off.

Steve Hughes, chairman of the Crown Centre in St John's Street, which offers meeting facilities for older people, said: "Provision of well-maintained public toilets is a more important service than many being currently provided.

"Voters will know how to deal with councillors who, in almost the same breath, vote themselves a 50 per cent rise in perks and then say they can't afford to run public toilets.

"It is not just older people who need public toilets. Everyone needs them."

Audrey Pye, chairman of the Devizes Childminders Group, said: "If there was a brand new attended loo in the town, I think more people would use it, even if they had to pay for the privilege."