MIRFIELD Town Council is to take over the running of the town’s public toilets.

Kirklees Council has decided to close 11 conveniences across the district to save £150,000.

But Mirfield’s toilets in Station Road were given a reprieve after the town council agreed to step in.

One of the town councillors, Mirfield grocer Andrew White, has taken on the voluntary role of ‘custodian’ of the loos.

He opens the toilets in a morning and gives them a wipe over on a night before locking them up.

Kirklees still sends a cleaner round in the middle of the day, but there their responsibility ends.

Kirklees does not even provide toilet paper and Clr White and Mayor of Mirfield Clr David Pinder have had to buy supplies out of their own pockets.

Clr White, who runs Mick’s Fruit & Veg in Huddersfield Road, said: “Kirklees is ducking its responsibilities.

“Public toilets are a basic function that are important to local people and it’s wrong that Kirklees should close them down just to save money.”

Clr White has also been called into actions above and beyond the call of duty over the toilets.

Two weeks ago vandals daubed spray paint over the inside the building and Clr White has had to clear a toilet in the gents blocked by newspaper.

“Shame on Kirklees,” he said. “They have let Mirfield down.”

Clr Pinder said Kirklees was leasing the toilets to Mirfield Town Council for a peppercorn rent.

But there was a stumbling block over the £1,200 a year non-domestic rates bill which the tiny building comes with.

It may be that the town council is exempt from paying that.

However, the annual running costs for the toilets could be £5,000-£7,000 a year and the town council has set aside £10,000 from its reserves.

Kirklees revealed that declining usage of public toilets generally meant it cost £6 a visit to spend a penny, a cost that could no longer be justified.

Clr Pinder said: “I still find it indefensible that Kirklees can close down public toilets like this. To me the council should concentrate on its core functions.”

In December the council’s cabinet voted unanimously to close 11 unattended conveniences. They were ones at New Mill, Holme, Mirfield, Marsh, Milnsbridge, Slaithwaite, Marsden, Honley, Batley, Birstall and Heckmondwike. Only Mirfield remains open.

When a petition was set up to fight the Mirfield closure 300 people signed it within three days.