A council has announced a U-turn on plans to close public toilets.

Brighton and Hove City Council’s budget proposals recommended closing nine public toilets with six remaining open but with reduced attendance hours.

But after pressure from The Argus, opposition councillors and the public the Green administration has said at least two of the toilets will now remain open.

Saunders Park in Lewes Road and Vale Park in Portslade have been identified as two of the areas where public toilets will stay open but more could follow.

The recommendations were earmarked to save £163,000.

Closed Finance cabinet member, Jason Kitcat, said: “The Government’s imposition of huge reductions in our budgets required us to find savings from all areas, including public toilets.

“It is something we proposed with a heavy heart. We focused on low usage, inaccessible toilets in close proximity to alternatives."

He added that new toilets would be opened when parks are redeveloped and the council was calling on more businesses to open their facilities to the public as part of the Use Our Loo programme.

A Leave Our Loos Alone (LOLA) petition set up in opposition to the proposals by the city’s Labour group has so far collected 250 signatures.

Deputy leader Warren Morgan said: “This partial u-turn by the Greens on the closure of public toilets is welcome, and a victory for my Labour Co-op councillor colleagues in Portslade, Councillor Jeane Lepper in Saunders Park and all those who have backed our Leave Our Loos Alone campaign."

Balance the Books

Which areas of Brighton and Hove City Council's budget mean the most to you?

The Argus has chosen ten key areas of the budget proposals to find out which ones out readers think should be treated as a priority in the budget.

Make your choice by filling in our online form at www.theargus.co.uk/news/balancebudget

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