A COUNCILLOR offered to contribute �100 towards loo rolls to get two public conveniences in Wisbech re-opened.

Wisbech Town Council was told on Monday that a shortage of loo rolls and soap is partly to blame for Fenland District Council opting to close the toilets before their ownership passed to them.

Council leader Councillor David Oliver- and coincidentally the district council portfolio holder for Wisbech- broke the news to town councillors that the district council closed the toilets in The Park and Exchange Square because they no longer had cleaning products and toilet rolls available.

“I was told they had run out of supplies and rather than purchase more stock, in the interim they would close them,” he said. “The town council is already in the process of buying both toilets, and hope the sale will go through before the end of the month.”

Town clerk Erbie Murat said he only found out about the toilets’ closure shortly before the council’s monthly meeting.

“I am not entirely sure what Fenland Council is playing at,” he said. “I am extremely disappointed.”

Councillor Dave Patrick, who is a member of both the town and district council, said: “To say the toilets have been closed because FDC has run out of toilet roll and soap is an absurd excuse

“I am angry because the whole idea of Wisbech Town Council buying the toilets was to keep them open and now they are closed. I believe the district council could have kept them open until the acquisition was complete.”

It was Cllr Steve Tierney who offered to pay for toilet roll and soap when the town council discovered the closure.

“It seems a small issue, but someone has got to pay,” he said. “I can see the funny side of it, toilets closed because no one wants to buy the toilet roll.”

However Mr Murat is adamant no councillor will pay and he’s equally adamant both toilets will be open on Sunday for the town’s annual multi cultural festival.

He vowed to “put the toilet rolls in myself and make sure they are clean before Sunday.

“They will be open on Sunday unless Fenland District Council puts a spanner in the works, and then we will have to pay an arm and a leg for mobile toilets. We do not want to cancel the festival for the sake of a few toilet rolls.”

A Fenland Council spokesman said they had intended to close the toilets when the refurbished toilets at St Peter’s car park opened in early June

But it was agreed to keep them open temporarily until the end of June “as a goodwill gesture.” They were kept open for an extra month but “we finally had to close them a week ago. We hope they will re-open soon.”

Fenland Council decided earlier this year to keep only one public loo open in each market town.