WATCHET Town Council is appealing to residents and visitors to help catch culprits who have vandalised the town’s only public toilets almost daily for the past five months.

Since the facility was taken over from West Somerset Council in April, there has been constant damage ranging from graffiti scratched on doors and broken windows to blockages which make the toilets unfit for use, town clerk Sarah Reed said this week.

She added: “The cost of operating the toilets is a big expense which is covered by the taxpayers of Watchet, so those responsible for this ongoing wilful damage are in fact hitting the pockets of local residents.”

When the toilets were saved by the town council from closure they were upgraded to include a full disabled facility and refurbished. Councillors undertook cleaning duties until a rota and procedures could be established and now council staff clean and maintain the toilets daily.

An outside contractor takes over on weekends and bank holidays to ensure that the toilets remain open from 8am to 8pm all year.

Mrs Reed told the Free Press: “Vandalism has occurred almost daily in both the gents and ladies facilities since the town council took over ownership.

“The lack of care from some members of the public in deliberately abusing this well-needed facility is causing considerable difficulties for cleaning staff and councillors, and there have been many complaints from the public.”

She said that the toilets were visited 60,000 times a year and the vast majority of people used them correctly and valued the improvement in the facilities.

But the cost of the damage was placing unnecessary constraints on the council budget and a burden on staff, who were striving to deliver council services to a continuing high standard.

So the council was seeking help from the public to ensure that the toilets are not misused, and to report any information to the Council staff that may help prevent a recurrence of such incidents. The council was monitoring the situation, and assessing if CCTV might help the problem.

Other moves being considered included closing the toilets earlier in the evening, as that seemed to be when damage was most prevalent.

Mrs Reed added: “Please help to ensure that such misuse does not put in jeopardy the town council’s ability to continue to operate these valuable facilities, to which it is committed to preserve as a key public service for residents and visitors to Watchet.”