A parish council wants to turn a toilet into a takeaway.

But the plan has caused anger as the public conveniences were gifted to it in an asset transfer by Kirklees Council .

Holme Valley Parish Council took over the ownership of the toilets in the centre of Holmfirth in 2015.

It has now unveiled plans to revamp the building as a cafe, shop or takeaway while also keeping the public toilets open by reducing them in size.

The move has caused a rift between the parish councillors and Holme Valley South Tories.

Clr Nigel Patrick said he was “disappointed with the direction the parish council was going.”

Kirklees Council Conservative member Nigel Patrick.

He claimed the parish council’s plan would leave people queueing in the streets, adding: “I cannot imagine anyone wanting to open a takeaway or cafe/restaurant next to a public toilet.”

He said: “When we encouraged Holme Valley Parish Council to take on the public toilets and save this facility for the benefit of the town we did not expect the parish council to reduce the facility by half and commercialise the asset.

“The parish councillors talk about a need to raise money to keep the toilets open. They don’t need to raise money, they've got sufficient money in the parish council.

“Last year the parish council raised their precept by 80% to pay for the upkeep of assets – or so we were told. The parish council seems to have forgotten its role to serve and benefit the community.

“Its interests seem to lie in making money, not serving the community.”

He added: “The parish council needs to wake up and recognise its responsibilities to the communities it serves.

“Instead of commercialising buildings, it should tap into the large reserves it has, including the large sums of money generated by its land charity.

“This building was purpose built as a public toilet and it should remain so in its entirety.”

Fellow Conservative Clr Ken Sims said the parish council should install a payment system if it wanted to make the toilets sustainable.

Kirklees Cllr Ken Sims.
Kirklees Cllr Ken Sims.

He said: “If you allow this you’re allowing the decimation of a public convenience in a tourist town that makes millions for Kirklees.

“The conversion of these toilets is going to take £20,000 to £25,000 – how long will it take to get that back?

“Let’s have some common sense here.”

Clr John Taylor agreed: “They should not be reducing the size of the toilets and creating an unnecessary takeaway or retail space.”

Holmfirth town centre

But Labour’s Clr James Homewood said the parish council was trying to be “innovative”.

“I don’t seem that much of a problem with it,” he said.

Clr Terry Lyons, chair of the committee, said: “I can see both sides of this argument, I don’t know which way to vote.”

Clr Greg Cropper from Holme Valley Parish Council said: “This is a success story, the toilets in the middle of Holmfirth are operational.

“It’s risen phoenix-like from the dust after Kirklees had to close it down. The parish council has taken it on and it's working.

“We’ve reduced the costs from about £54,000 to about £15,000. We’ve got to the stage where it could be self-sustaining.”

Clr Cropper claimed the re-shuffle would result in just one less toilet cubicle.

The application was approved by six votes in favour to four against.