A CREDITON councillor camp- aigning to save a set of the town's public toilets says his efforts to discuss the issue have met with a "brick wall".

Mid Devon District plans to shut the conveniences at St Lawrence Green once new ones are finished in Market Street.

But the town council wants to keep both sets open — and Cllr David Nation, who is both a town and district councillor, says he has been frustrated in his efforts to raise the matter with the local authority.

Cllr Nation said: "We think that public toilets are still needed at the Green, especially as it is used as a coach drop-off point."

Cllr Nation said repeated requests for the district council's executive committee to discuss the issue had so far fallen on deaf ears.

The town council has also lobbied the district council to increase its contribution towards the cost of providing the 'partnership loos' in the Old Town Hall.

Rising costs are also putting them at risk of closure.

On June 3, the town council wrote to Mid Devon asking that the toilet shortage be brought before its executive committee at its next meeting, which was held on June 12.

However, the chief executive of the district council, Gerald Hirsch, replied on June 11 without referring to the request for the item to be considered at the executive meeting.

On July 29, Cllr Nation wrote to Mid Devon's leader, Cllr Peter Hare-Scott, formally asking the district council to abide by the request of Crediton Town Council and place the item on its executive committee agenda for Thursday, August 7.

The item was not included, and at the meeting Cllr Nation asked why the issue was again absent from the agenda.

He was told by a senior council officer that the question over who could put items on agendas under the new executive structure was a matter for the council's next training day in September.

Cllr Nation repeated his request that the matter appear on the next agenda of the executive and has since arranged to meet the portfolio holder responsible for public toilets, Cllr Ray Radford.

Cllr Nation said: "We shouldn't have to be going to these lengths. This has been going on for months so I am completely exasperated with the situation.

"The problem is being ignored so trying to have the issue heard by the executive committee is a last resort."

The toilets in Market Street were demolished to make way for the new shop and office development.

The building work is now complete with the opening of the new toilets expected imminently.

Cllr Ray Radford, the portfolio holder for street scene, which covers public toilets, said: "I have asked council officers to look into the whole issue of toilets in Crediton, which they are doing. As there are cost implications, I will be fully consulting with the officers, district ward members and Crediton Town Council, to see if we can agree a suitable way forward. At this stage, as this is already being dealt with, it is not necessary to put it on the agenda for the executive to discuss."