COUNCILLORS were bogged down last week over a couple's plan to demolish their outside toilet.

Members of Corsham Town Council's planning committee were being driven round the bend over whether to back the couple's bid to flatten the privy at the rear of a listed house in Station Road, Corsham.

The issue split the council down the middle, leaving chairman Jock Fraser facing the bottom line. After a few moments thought, he backed those recommending refusal.

Coun Roger Fido, who voted in favour of knocking down the toilet, said he could not believe the overall vote was to object to the plan.

"To say it is an ancient part of Corsham is stretching it too far," he said. "It is so Victorian and so out of place. It has not been used for donkeys' years."

The owners want to demolish the toilet so they can build a patio in its place because it is in a suntrap at the back of the house.

Coun Fido said: "If it was mine the only thing I would use it for would be a tool shed. It is pointless leaving it there."

The privy's owners said they did not want to comment at this stage because they did not want to rock the boat before a decision was made by North Wiltshire District Council.