FIVE public toilets could be permanently closed as part of West Somerset Council's ongoing drive to bridge an anticipated £1.2 million budget gap.

Conveniences in Blenheim Gardens and at the Carousel in Minehead, together with loos in Church Street, Dunster, Harbour Road in Watchet and Porlock's central toilets, could all shut for good.

It comes less than a year after similar plans were dropped following an outcry from local residents and councillors.

Now the council is keen to close some of the district's least used facilities in an attempt to save around £80,000 by making changes to its current contract with waste services provider Veolia.

This week members of the authority's scrutiny committee agreed in principle to the closure of the five toilets, although a final decision on the principle of closing the facilities will rest with the full council next month.

And even if councillors do support the idea, the toilets may yet be saved from closure as a full public consultation has to be held and parish and town councillors asked if they would like to take on responsibility for the threatened facilities.

In a report to Monday's scrutiny committee, chief executive Adrian Dyer said the council's weak financial standing, coupled with cuts in Government funding, meant it had no choice but to make savings.

"Because of the financial pressures facing the council, it is inevitable that capacity to deliver services will have to shrink even further over the next few years.

"If this is to be minimised it is vital that the overriding objective is to ensure that services are being delivered in the most cost-effective manner whilst at the same time maintaining an acceptable level of service delivery," Mr Dyer said.

He said the council was in a particularly precarious position as its very viability rested on future Council Tax levels.

"The issue being debated internally at the moment is what the ratio between raising additional income from Council Tax and reducing levels of net revenue expenditure should be.

"Whatever the outcome of this debate, it is expected that the savings required will be in excess of £600,000," Mr Dyer said.

West Somerset has traditionally kept its Council Tax levels low, meaning it receives some £500,000 a year less than it should had it increased bills in line with other local authorities.

However, any local authority wanting to increase bills above Government capping limits must first get the support of taxpayers' via a referendum.

Although the level of any potential increase has not been publicly confirmed, it is likely to be at least 30 per cent as the authority tries to bring its bills in line with other councils.

In real terms, that would see the district council's share of Council Tax bills rise by 60p a week for a Band B taxpayer, or £31 a year, while Band D homes would face a 77p a week increase, or £40 a year.

Mr Dyer said neither he nor councillors could predict the outcome of any forthcoming referendum or the levels of future Government grant aid.

In the interim, savings had to be made to try and ease existing financial pressures.

While closing five toilets would save £22,000 from the Veolia contract, a further £14,000 would be saved in "operational" costs associated with the conveniences.

Asking the council's own grounds maintenance staff rather than Veolia to empty litter bins in rural areas would save £19,000, while Veolia had agreed to absorb £10,000 fly-tipping and additional dog bin costs.

A further £15,000 reduction had been negotiated with Veolia, subject to the council renewing its existing contract for a further three years.

Committee members were told a small group of councillors had looked into the existing contract in detail to help find the savings and concluded that Veolia was accountable, aware of its obligations and delivered good value for money.

Councillors were told: "In view of the uncertainty surrounding the council's long-term financial viability it would not make sense to embark on a long and expensive new procurement exercise at the current time.

"In operational, commercial and practical terms the proposal to enter into a three year [agreement with Veolia] has numerous advantages for the council."

The current contract with Veolia is due to end on October 1.

Scrutiny members recommended that the authority's usual tendering rules and regulations were waived in favour of signing a new deal with Veolia and backed the principle of permanently closing five toilets from November 1 subject to further consultation.

Cabinet members are due to discuss the proposals next Wednesday before a final decision on the new contract is made by the full council later next month.