A FLUSH of refurbishment work at four public toilets in the Malvern Hills area is about to begin.

But the future of four other loos is undecided.

Toilets at Hanley Road in Upton, Grange Road in Great Malvern, Barnards Green and Malvern Link will be improved under a £250,000 Malvern Hills District Council scheme.

But toilets at The Dingle in West Malvern, the waterfront in Upton, Edith Walk and Victoria Road in Malvern may have to close if the council decides it cannot afford to run them.

A contractor has been chosen to carry out the refurbishment work, which will begin at the toilets in Hanley Road, Upton, on October 25.

Work on these toilets is likely to be finished by mid-December, with the other three toilets being refurbished in turn.

Ivor Pumfrey, MHDC's head of environmental services, said the Hanley Road toilets were first in line for refurbishment because they were in a particularly poor condition. They were closed for several weeks over the summer, after they became a focus for acts of indecent behaviour.

"We want our facilities to not just be clean and pleasant but actually safe to use," said Mr Pumfrey.

MHDC has offered to refurbish the five other toilets around the Mal- vern Hills if parish and town councils take over responsibility for cleaning them.

But none of the councils has agreed to the proposal and MHDC will decide on their future at an as yet unscheduled executive committee.

Referring to the Lower Dingle toilet in West Malvern, parish clerk David Sharp said his council could not find a contractor to do the cleaning.

He said the cost of employing cleaners would increase West Malvern Parish Council's precept by around 20 per cent.