BLUE Anchor residents are making a last-ditch bid to save their seafront public toilets by attempting to form a group to take them over when West Somerset Council finally closes the facility next April.

Nearly 1,000 locals and residents have signed a petition urging that the toilets at one of West Somerset’s most popular tourist destinations be saved from closure.

And supporters can have their say at a meeting at Blue Anchor’s seafront Driftwood Café on Monday (November 7) at 5pm.

The aim is to sound out support for handing over the toilets to the community to be run as a possible community interest company.

“We need people with management skills to help with maintenance and repairs and good fund-raisers,” said Alison Hart of Home Farm, Blue Anchor, one of the driving forces behind the rescue bid.

Other campaigners include Tony Bigwood, also of Home Farm, Driftwood Café owner Ruth Chatterton and her front of house manager Poppy Fergusson

Alison said: “It is imperative that we obtain a wide range of support from the community.

“My fear is that West Somerset Council will auction the site, as happened in Dunster recently, and the toilets will be lost for ever.

“While it would be a very nice windfall for West Somerset Council in the short term, the effect on Blue Anchor would be felt for years.”

She added that for a major tourist area like Blue Anchor, on the South West Coastal Path and to eventually be part of the West Somerset Steam Coast Trail, the lack of any public toilets could be disastrous.