TOILETS at Brecon’s Theatr Brycheiniog will be closed to the public on Sundays unless a funding shortfall of more than £4,500 can be met.

The toilets at the theatre on Brecon’s canal basin are currently used by tourists, walkers and local people visiting the area but due to a £9,000 funding cut by Powys County Council since April this year, the theatre is struggling to keep them open on Sundays.

The issue was raised at a meeting of Brecon Town Council on Monday night after the council received a letter from theatre chief executive, Martin Green, asking for financial help to keep the toilets open.

Councillor Matthew Dorrance asked town clerk Fiona Williams how much the town council currently pay to the theatre to help with the upkeep and a rough figure of £8,250, which includes £1,250 for the toilets, around £2,000 for repairs as well as a £5,000 annual grant, was given.

Cllr Dorrance said: "I appreciate the financial issues but we already give the theatre a large amount of help. It is currently our biggest outgoing. And we have recently taken on the upkeep of the toilets at Lion Yard and the Promenade. We decided to take on two and have prioritised.

"I find it hard to believe that they didn’t notice they weren’t having a £9,000 grant. That is bad financial planning and we haven’t got the funds to give anymore support."

Theatr Brycheiniog does not currently open on a Sunday but previously provisions were made to keep the building open in order for people to use the toilets. The letter from Mr Green sets out four options which include closing the facilities on a Sunday over the summer, approaching Powys County Council for an emergency grant, requesting an emergency grant from the town council or to close from July 24 on a Sunday and only open on the Sunday of Brecon Jazz, as the venue will be open anyway, and to see if any funding would be available to open selective Sundays.

Councillor Chris Walsh said: "We do already give a significant amount of money to the theatre to help with the toilets and as part of the toilet working group we opted to keep the facilities open at Lion Yard and the Promenade.

"If we were to help with extra money it would have to come out of the reserve funds as we haven’t budgeted for it in this year’s precept and we do have numerous other financial pressures.

"This letter says the annual shortfall is £4,650 which means to open on 31 Sundays it would costs £150 a day. Is this the right thing to do? It maybe more cost effective to price up a separate toilet unit. I also wonder have they asked other sources? I think we need to proceed with a note of caution because of our other pressures."

Dave Allen, who runs the Dragonfly Cruises from the canal basin, has complained to Powys County Council and the theatre that he was frustrated with the decision to close the toilets on a Sunday due to the withdrawal of funding.

Mayor Rose Evans said that she had been in the toilets recently and the they "weren’t a nice place to go in."

Councillor Robyn Lewis said: "We haven’t got the money to throw at them. Powys County Council need to help."

Cllr Walsh added that he understood the pressures but to "go into the reserves wasn’t a good idea" and that option two, to go to Powys County Council for an emergency grant should be the way forward.