“PAY to pee” plans that could see people charged to use public toilets have been slammed as “more trouble than its worth”.

Under the Royal Borough’s £12m savings plan, it is reviewing the provision of public conveniences, also known as public toilets, to net a £50,000 saving.

That saving also includes possibly using volunteers to close park gates rather than a paid person and possibly removing the pets corner in Ray Mill Island or securing alternative funding for the animals.

Charging people to use the public toilets concerned councillors, who feared the service could be removed or the fee could deter people from using them.

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Speaking at Monday’s corporate overview and scrutiny meeting, Cllr Simon Bond (Lib Dem: Belmont) said it didn’t seem “practical” to charge residents to use public toilets.

He added: “Paddington Station, which has a significant footfall of people through the station, doesn’t charge anymore because it’s more trouble than it’s worth.

“I do think closing them [public toilets] would be a definite backward step and I am sure residents will be relieved if they were to stay open.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Joshua Reynolds (Lib Dem: Furze Platt) said at last week’s place overview and scrutiny meeting that it could possibly create a tourist tax for “going for a wee” in Windsor. Cllr Gurch Singh (Lib Dem: St Mary’s) said it was “pay to pee,” which was met with a roar of laughter.

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The council’s head of neighbourhood services Alysse Strachan said there are no definite plans to remove public toilets or to charge people to use them as they are just reviewing the service at the moment.

She said it’s “not appropriate” to add a charge for all of the public toilets as they will be reviewing all the conveniences on a like-for-like basis.

However, alternative options are also being explored, such as to see if parish councils or other partners want to operate the toilets instead of the Royal Borough.

Officers did not give out further details on how much the charge could be, which toilets could see a fee, or if it will be a tap-and-go payment system.