The proposed renovation of Gellings Avenue public toilets in Port St Mary was queried by one commissioner at a recent meeting.

The authority wants to bring the toilets up to standard because they are the only ones in the vicinity of shops and the beach.Deputy clerk Hayley Fargher brought costs to the meeting.

She said the public amenities budget for the current year is £2,600.

Reconnection to the electricity supply will cost £720 + VAT (excluding ground works).

Contractors’ estimates are: £2,350 + VAT to carry out ground work; £481 + VAT to install a hot water heater and associated pipe work; £1,821 + VAT to replace existing toilets, pipe work and sinks and £5,600 for a solar electric and water heating system (as a back up).

Location

Rich Ashcroft said: ’They are a desirable facility, but are we throwing money at it when it’s not in a useful location for a toilet?

’Even if there were things like a heated hand washer, how many people will use it? Budgets are tight. It’s not worth the investment.’

Andy Phair said: ’We already agreed it would go ahead. We were surprised the electricity is not connected and the additional cost that might bring. It’s not a great deal more than we budgeted. We are revisiting things we agreed we would do.’

Bernadette Williams said: ’Maybe we should not have agreed until we knew we had the money.’

Chairman Michelle Haywood said: ’Quite a few things are agreed like that, Andy’s right, we did have a board resolution â?¦ this would draw on this year’s contingency fund.’

Alec Merchant said: ’The electricity was disconnected by the electricity board, the wiring was considered not fit for purpose and unsafe.’

Mr Ashcroft proposed they investigate if it needs rewiring.