A plan to shut the public toilets in Crieff over the winter has been thrown in doubt after local business leaders revealed they had a legal agreement with Perth and Kinross Council to keep them open all year round.
The block is one of four slated for closure from October to April — along with two in Perth and one in Auchterarder — as part of a recent £150,000 cost-saving measure passed in a special budget meeting earlier this year.
However, the Crieff Business Improvement District (BID) group says it has a service agreement with the council which guarantees staffed toilets are in operation in the town throughout the calendar year.
The BID team say they are writing to Perth and Kinross Council urging it to halt its plans to close the toilets in less than two weeks.
A spokesperson for Crieff BID said: “We do have a service agreement in place with Perth and Kinross Council to have manned toilets 12 months of the year.
“We have a legal representative on the board and they will write to the council as we expect this agreement to stand.
“We will be working to make sure that public toilets do stay open.”
Leader of the council, Conservative Murray Lyle, said he would seek advice on the agreement before deciding how to proceed.
“We have tried to keep the toilets open but it was a decision we had to make,” he said.
“We were not made aware of the agreement at the time but I now am and it is with our team.
“I have asked officers for a clarification.
“I will wait for their advice and I will make a decision regarding the toilet’s future when it comes.”
More than 200 people across Perthshire have signed a petition calling on the council to save the toilets since it was started on Friday.
One of the signatories John Gauld, from Crieff, said the planned closure was a “retrograde step”.
“There is a lot of anger regarding the public toilets as they are a vital public service,” he said.
“We have been told that we will be provided with portable toilets.
“However, I was speaking to a young mum who told me that she was concerned about having to change her baby in these facilities.
“There is concern locally that these toilets will close and will not open again.”
