DISGUSTED townsfolk have kicked up a stink after the closure of popular public toilets in Stourport. Councillor Michael Grinnall outside the "vital" Coopers Lane toilets.

There is disbelief the Bridge Street toilets, accessed off Coopers Lane, have been closed with the summer season approaching and they fear visitors and late-night revellers will have to urinate in the streets.

The toilets were due for closure in March last year along with those in Broadwaters, Kidderminster, to save Wyre Forest District Council £10,000.

However, after an angry protest, they were maintained with a £6,500 cash pledge while a public convenience review of the district took place.

But the council's commercial services manager Keith Burgess said the review had shown the toilets should be closed because they had suffered a high level of vandalism, even though this means no public toilets will be open in the town centre at night if Stourport is hit by flooding.

However, townsfolk are angry because the Broadwaters toilets remain open.

Muriel Smith, whose family has lived in Coopers Lane since 1935 and saw the toilets built in 1947, said: "For a town supposed to be a tourist attraction this is a disgrace. The other day I counted 20 people use the toilets in five minutes."

District and town councillor Michael Grinnall said: "When Stourport floods, the Riverside toilets are cut off yet these are the only ones open in the town centre after 6.30pm. People will not walk through High Street to the Vale Road toilets as it is a five-minute walk."

Stourport Business Association chairman Russell Hinton, who runs Mantons Jewellers in High Street, said: "I realise the council has a budget but it is not doing itself any favours making such a ridiculous decision.

"People have urinated against my shop before and it can decay the brickwork. I don't feel the council has approached businesses and the public sufficiently to discover what they feel is best for the town."

Mr Burgess countered: "We are currently looking at a contract to install a paid-for superloo at one of three possible sites in Stourport, including Bridge Street."