Furious protests followed the report in last week's Ross Gazette of Herefordshire Council's decision to close one of the public conveniences in Ross, along with nine others around the county including those at Kerne Bridge and Symonds Yat. Residents and traders jumped to condemn the decision and Colin Leggate, the Chairman of the Association of Ross Traders, ART, instigated a letter writing campaign to Herefordshire Council.

However, on Wednesday, October 16th, Town Councillors were informed that Herefordshire Council had decided to close the public toilets in Wye Street instead. This provoked another storm of protest as well as many suggestions including introducing a charging system, in order to keep facilities for visitors and residents open.

Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Lucy Hurd described the current state of play as 'a bad situation being handled badly'. She referred to the fact that not only have Town Councillors been asked to deal with closing one of the public conveniences in Ross on November 1st but they have been asked to consider taking over many of the town's assets in December. She expressed sympathy for the Town Councillors at Ross who are expected to be 'firefighting and trying to plan for the future.'

Ross Town Councillors were given until Wednesday, October 23rd to respond to Herefordshire Council if they would prefer Croft Court facilities to close rather than Wye Street.

The Mayor of Ross, Cllr Chris Bartrum is away and there is no meeting before October 23rd in order for Councillors to discuss the matter. He personally agreed that it would be better to keep the toilets in Croft Court open as they are used by many people, shoppers and visitors.

Councillor Phil Cutter told the Gazette:?"I would like to see all the toilets retained, but as that is not the case, it may be possible for local traders to take over the toilets in Croft Court. From a visitor's perspective we need to keep Wye Street open and at least one in town, the one at Red Meadow is also well used.

For more stories in full please see this week's Ross Gazette.