A TOWN council will be allowed to keep the money it was given in exchange for taking control of local public toilets even if it closes the facility.

A TOWN council will be allowed to keep the money it was given in exchange for taking control of local public toilets even if it closes the facility.

At a meeting last month Swaffham Town Council voted to close the market town's only public loos following concerns over spiralling costs.

It is currently investigating the possibility of alternative provision, however, it is under no statutory obligation to provide toilets and it would be legal for it to close the existing facility and not provide an alternative.

Breckland Council has now confirmed that if this scenario proved to be the case it would not be seek to recoup any of the �245,000 one-off payment it made to the town council for taking on the responsibility for the toilets back in 2007.

The toilets, which are situated at the back of the former tourist information centre, off Market Place, were reopened in March 2008 after a �105,000 revamp.

The money left was meant to enable the town council to pay for running of the toilets over the next 10 years.

But costs have escalated due to repeated vandalism with the bill for the coming year, including rates, cleaning and sorting out vandalism, expected to come in at more than �23,000.

The council is currently looking into the idea of paying businesses to allow members of the public to walk in and use their facilities.

There is also a possibility that the disabled facilities at the existing site could remain open.