THERE’S a wee problem in West Linton - the public toilets are not being used enough!

As part of cuts of £450,000 the facilities face being axed by Scottish Borders Council.

Members of West Linton Community Council met council officer Jason Hedley to discuss possible savings that could be made from neighbourhood services.

And community councillor Colin Bell said: “He seems extremely keen that the toilets get closed. There are only 43 visits per week to the toilet - so it seems we ought to be using them more.

“Scottish Water has a meter in the loos and that is supposed to be costing a lot of money. But if there are only six or seven using the toilets every day how can we use so much water?” He added that Mr Hedley had suggested that other local businesses should try to make toilets available to the public.

But community councillors said it would not be feasible to expect people to have to go through to the back of a shop and none had disabled facilities.

“The only place really is the Gordon Arms and he suggested they could be offered £350 a year to make their toilets available. Maybe we can put up a sign in the village saying ‘if you are caught short go to the Gordon Arms’! he said.

Community councillor David Small added: “Visitors come to the Lower Green and know we have clean toilets. It surely isn’t going to cost a fortune to keep them open.” Other possible cutbacks by SBC include no upkeep of graves and a reduction of grass cutting around the village.

Community council chairman Eric Small said: “Scottish Borders Council are going around all the communities trying to save money. These are only proposals and not set in stone.” Mr Bell added: “They don’t require any answers on this until September because a lot of community councils don’t meet during the summer.

“But this is a historic conservation village and what are our visitors going to do when they can’t go to the toilet and are knee-deep in grass.”