Corfe Castle parish council is campaigning to keep a public toilet at East Street.

Purbeck district councillors are due to take a decision later this month on the fate of the facility which has been closed for the past year because its roof timbers collapsed.

Environmental service leaders at Purbeck district council say repairs are likely to cost in excess of £26,000.

Repair costs have been driven up because the building is in a conservation area and adjoins an asbestos roof.

The council has been in discussions with the National Trust about handing over the responsibility for the building but the final decision lays with district councillors.

Jim Johnstone, acting head of service for Purbeck district council's environmental services, said: "The reality is the kind of money we are talking about is more than the budget for all the toilets in the district - that is the real reason they have been left the way they have."

The district council purchased the building as a public toilet from the Bankes estate in 1951 but today's legislation requires all toilets to have an entrance for people with disabilities.

Corfe Castle parish clerk Geoff Dunn said: "In a village which attracts thousands of visitors we desperately need more than one public toilet.

"Basically the roof has gone but we don't understand the costs being quoted for repairs and the council is not producing the information for people to understand.

"Somehow there has to be a cheaper way of repairing these toilets."

First published: May 10