TRADITIONAL public toilets could become a thing of the past under plans to ask Bournemouth businesses to open up their facilities to all.

Existing conveniences across the town could be closed down in a bid to save Bournemouth council tens of thousands of pounds in cleaning and maintenance costs.

The council is hoping to replace them with a “community toilet scheme”, which will direct residents to toilets in private and council buildings instead.

This would mean that some public toilet sites could be sold or rented out, while facilities that do remain open could carry a charge.

The scheme has been successfully implemented by other councils elsewhere in the country. It is suggested that payments of £600 a year could be made to businesses willing to join in the scheme.

But Liberal Democrat councillor Richard Smith called the idea “crazy and short-sighted”.

He said: “It sounds to me that this is just an excuse to do away with yet more public toilets.”

He cited the example of public toilets in Kinson that are well-used by bus drivers and said: “It’s all very well telling people they can use toilets in the shops or libraries but those buildings are not open 24/7.

“And how can we consider shutting toilets in parks, where families often spend long periods of time. Do we want people to go to toilet in the bushes?”

And Conservative Cllr Basil Ratcliffe, who chairs the environment and economy scrutiny panel that will consider the proposals, said: “I haven’t seen the papers yet but I am surprised by this suggestion.

“I think it is unreasonable to ask local businesses to do this. Our own toilets are in a disgraceful state. If you owned a business, would you want yours going the same way?”

It’s proposed that nine public toilets currently closed will remain so, saving the council £50,000. This includes facilities at Cemetery Junction, Pelhams Park, Kings Park and Meyrick Park.

Councillors on the scrutiny panel will also be asked to approve a review of every single public toilet in the borough, to see which ones could be closed.

The proposals will be discussed on Tuesday, February 17.