‘Desperate’ forced to walk too far to find a toilet in Honiton, says chairman of senior council.

Portable toilets should have been made available to visitors while East Devon District Council was refurbishing loos in Lace Walk car park - that is the view of the chairman of Honiton Senior Council.

Tony Smith said coach parties, dropped off in Dowell Street, were confronted with a map, directing them to the town’s only other public conveniences in King Street.

“It was the wrong time,” he told the Midweek Herald. “The visitors had to negotiate a narrow pavement while road works were being carried out. It was too far away.”

Mr Smith added: “The toilets in the coach park should never have been closed down.

“It is already a struggle for visitors to walk to the ones in Lace Walk.”

East Devon District Council closed half the public toilets in Honiton a few years ago, saying it was not duty bound to provide such facilities.

But Mr Smith says loos are essential if Honiton is to continue to attract visitors.

Honiton Town Council would like to take over the running of the loos in Lace Walk - but only if revenue is forthcoming from the district authority. It does not want to take them on and then have to put up the precept.