BUSINESSES and residents in Newcastle Emlyn are being urged to lobby the county council in a bid to keep open the Mart car park public toilets.

The toilets, operated by Carmarthenshire County Council, have been open during the summer months to cover the busy holiday season but are due to close again shortly for the winter.

Now town councillors want locals, shops and traders to add their voice to an on-line survey being run by the county council in a bid to keep the toilets open.

“There is a strong feeling in the town that we need the public toilets open for 12 months of the year,” said Mayor Cllr Kevin Evans at a meeting of the town council.

The on-line survey runs until October 5 and can be found at carmarthenshire.gov.wales/home/council-democracy/consultation-performance/current-consultations/public-toilets-strategy/

Cllr Peter lewis added: “Let’s get this out to as many people as possible in the town to make their views known.”

In the past, traders have expressed the view that a lack of public toilets in the town was costing them dear and driving away visitors and constantly raised the thorny issue of the toilets being closed.

Carmarthenshire County Council continues to operate a number of public conveniences throughout the county and while local authorities have the powers to provide public toilets, there is no statutory requirement to do so.

A council statement said: “The consultation feedback will be used to consider people’s opinion of toilet provision with regard to their location and standard of facilities and will contribute to our assessment of need which will assist in developing the local toilets strategy.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to fund new facilities, however, the information provided will enable a broader consideration of options available for offering toilets for public use in future and will help form a long term strategic approach to toilet provision from a host of providers throughout Carmarthenshire.

“A draft local toilets strategy will be available for public consultation from February 2019 with final publication by May 31, 2019.”