TRADERS in Newcastle Emlyn fear a lack of public toilets in the town is costing them dear and driving away visitors.

Newcastle Emlyn Traders chairman Jill Sutton raised the ‘thorny’ issue of the closed Mart car park toilets at a meeting of the town council and asked if a working party could be put together to try to solve the problem.

“From a trader’s point of view, we believe it is having a detrimental effect,” she said.

“We have businesses who are telling us that when visitors find the toilets are shut they say they are not going to come back to the town. Many traders are now being asked by visitors if they can use their toilets - hence ‘customer-only’ signs going up in some businesses.

“It is not creating a welcoming atmosphere to the town.”

The suggestion was made to form a working party of councillors and traders with a view to reinstate the toilets.

“The group can look at campaigning to get them re-opened or how we could possibly fund it as a town ourselves,” added Jill.

The toilets at the Mart car park were closed by Carmarthenshire County Council last year, sparking an outcry. Antique Centre proprietor Lisa Farmer gathered more than 200 signatures on a petition demanding that Carmarthenshire County Council reopened them but that fell on deaf ears.