PAYING for public toilets and ensuring they are safe and well-maintained is surely a better option than losing them completely.

Brighton and Hove City Council needs to make £24.85 million worth of savings over the next ten years – and the city’s public toilets are in the authority’s firing line.

But we are a city that relies on tourism. Asking visitors to come here – and then not offering them a place to do their business – will only leave a stink.

Council coffers are tight and we understand cuts need to be made. Just don’t take away the loos – not all of them, anyway.

There are 74 public toilets across the city. It sounds like a healthy haul, so perhaps we can compromise. How about halving the number, and then charging guests who use the remaining 37?

Maybe by charging toilet users the council could even break even on the toilet budget. Because after all, as the old saying goes, if you gotta go, you gotta go. What’s 50p or £1 to someone who is desperate?

There will be arguments for both sides of the, but what’s clear is the numbers will need to be looked at – and the consequences held in equally as high regard.

When Brighton and Hove has a reputation as an expensive place to park for visitors anyway, the last thing the city needs is another reason for people to travel to the likes of Worthing, Eastbourne and beyond.

The budgets are tight, but we don't want the city to look tight.

Surely this is penny pinching gone too far