Tourists visiting a popular Westcountry seaside destination will now have to pay to use public toilets - but they will still be free for locals. Visitors to St Ives in Cornwall must now spend money to access the facilities, reports Cornwall Live.
The town council owns eight public toilets around the west Cornwall town including one which it lets out to a private operator. All public toilets have been free to use for years but they cost the local authority around £135,000 a year to run due to the water, maintenance and cleaning costs, and that sum does not include the labour costs of staff carrying out repairs.
The facilities are open from dawn until dusk, and in high season they need to be cleaned five times a day. The authority said asking visitors to pay to use them will help pay for vandalism repairs, which have increased over the past few years.
