Fury as council splashes £500k on new public toilets in one of Britain’s poorest towns

A COUNCIL has been branded potty for spending £500,000 on public toilets in one of Britain’s poorest areas.

The refurbished lavs were unveiled with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Scarborough, North Yorks.

But baffled residents in the seaside town, struggling with high unemployment and poverty, hit out online.

Gemma Riley joked: “In for a penny…or should i say 500k.”

And Mike Scaife fumed: ”500k? What have they used, gold fittings?”

Phil Grainger raged: “You could construct five low-cost family homes for that money.”

Peter Johnson added: “I cannot for the life of me understand the mentality of our public servants justifying half a million pounds for said project?”

Town hall bosses hope to claw back some of the cash by charging punters 40p to pee.

Councillor Tony Randerson insisted: “It will be used as a benchmark for the transformation of some of our other toilet blocks in the future.”

A Scarborough Borough Council spokesperson said: “In response to public feedback we promised to improve the provision of public toilets."