THREE weeks after West Somerset Council gave up running its public toilets, nearly half are now shut – including facilities in some of the area’s most popular tourist spots.

The council’s scrutiny committee was told yesterday (Thursday) that five of the 14 former authority toilets had not reopened for various reasons, and that two owned by the National Trust were no longer available to the public.

Chris Hall, assistant director, operational delivery, told councillors in a report that the council’s asset management group was now considering alternative uses for some of the closed toilets, including those at Porlock, Williton, Watchet and Minehead.

And picturesque Selworthy and Allerford, villages popular with tourists, will no longer provide public toilets for the holiday season.

Scrutiny committee members heard that the asset management group had recommended a possible change of use for the closed Carousel toilets Minehead seafront.

As reported in last week’s Free Press, Minehead Town Council has reopened the Warren Road toilets for six months during the holiday season.