TOILET expert Piers Dibben has said that planned new public loos in Wellington will be vandal-proof - as much as possible.

Members of Wellington Town Council last week gave the green light for the replacement of the demolished toilet block in Longforth Road with a new building consisting of two cubicles and one disabled loo.

The previous toilets were much-maligned having been constantly vandalised and out of order, so councillors are keen to make sure the new facilities will be more robust.

And Mr Dibben, of Healthmatic, told councillors that he could understand the concerns about vandalism.

"There will be nothing on show such as electrics and pipework for enthusiastic youngsters to get hold of and rip off," he said.

But Mr Dibben told councillors that Wellington's level of vandalism was "minor" in comparison to other towns and cities.

"I’m sure as a council you get concerned about vandalism, but it’s pretty minor here in comparison to other places I've visited," he said.

"I was quite surprised to see that there was guttering still on the back of the toilets at North Street car park. A toilet block of that age in other parts of the country wouldn’t normally have any guttering left at all."

And Mr Dibben said: "You don't need a prison spec toilet."

Councillors agreed to go-ahead with a modular building - meaning it will be built in parts in a factory and then slotted together on site in Longforth Road and should, if everything went according to plan, be open for use in August next year.

Paul Bennett, of Ravenslade consultants, who has been in discussions with the council over the proposed new toilets and spoke to councillors about a possible traditional brick-built building, suggested having a small outside canopy above the toilet doors for people to shelter from bad weather while waiting to use the facilities.

But Mr Dibben said: "Personally, I don't want people to hang around outside toilets - we want them in and out and off."

He told councillors that the modular building would last for at least 60 years, while the actual toilets for 30 years.