The campaign to save Crickhowell's public toilets from closure is in full flow.

Unless a funding shortfall of £5,000-£6,000 a year can be found to cover the annual running costs the facilities could close at the end of March - inconveniencing both local residents and the town's many thousands of visitors.

Powys County Council has published plans to reduce or remove funding from public toilets across the county. Many have already closed and some have been taken over by community councils.

The public toilets in Crickhowell are too large to be cleaned and maintained by volunteers, as is the case in, for instance Llanfrynach.

They are also strategically placed next to a large car park, on one of the main routes through to the town's shops and adjacent to the A40 trunk road and are widely used by visitors and locals.

The council is currently proposing to reduce the funding to less than half the current operating costs, which it will pay to any interested party that is able to meet the full costs.

At present, the full costs are paid to the Crickhowell Resource and Information Centre (CRiC), but Chairman David Thomas says that CRiC does not have sufficient revenues to cover the shortfall of some £5,000-£6,000 annually.

"Due to the continuing confusion at County Hall we do not have a clear picture of what the council is proposing. If they do not pay the full running costs then it is most likely the toilets will close at the end of March," he said. 

"I am in discussions with Crickhowell Town Council about them contributing to the running costs and it is possible that they may be able to cover the shortfall, but there are a number of issues which they have to address.

"CRiC gets nearly 50,000 visitors a year, many of those use the conveniences and then there are the thousands of people who use the car park and walk through to the town. We have no idea the total numbers using them, but it could be tens of thousands – where will they go if they close?"

Ann Jeremiah, Mayor of Crickhowell added, "In addition to those of our local people who, perhaps through infirmity or age, may need access to public toilets we have a wider community to consider.  

"For Crickhowell to retain its vibrancy, and viability, it must continue to welcome visitors. Tourism, bolstered by successful initiatives such as the Walking Festival and the Green Man, has become a mainstay of our economy. What will our walkers and festival goers think of us when they are met by shuttered toilets?

"We can explain that Powys thought toilets to be a luxury that cannot be afforded, and financial prudence requires a return to pre Victorian hygiene, but the obvious message will be that although we would wish them to contribute to our economy, we can provide nothing in return.

"When a county council cannot even organise itself to provide toilets in a market town something is seriously amiss."

Although Crickhowell is fighting to save its toilets from closure, there is a wider campaign to stop the closure of public toilets across Powys, supported by local MP Roger Williams and Kirsty Williams AM.

Kirsty Williams said, "It is unthinkable that a county whose economy relies so heavily on tourism should not provide basic facilities for visitors. This could seriously damage the businesses of the county as well as impact on Powys' elderly residents."

She urged local residents to sign Roger Williams' petition to send a message to Powys CC to reverse the decision.

Launching the petition Roger Williams said that, whilst he sympathised with Powys CC and the savings it had to make, the closure of public toilets would not achieve that objective.

"They need a radical rethink about how they deliver services before they make any firm decisions" he added.

To sign his petition log onto rogerwilliams.org.uk/en/page/don-t-close-our-public-toilets.

* Powys CC's Cabinet was due to consider a letter from a town council about the issue of toilet closures at its meeting on Tuesday afternoon.