RESIDENTS and business owners will have their say on the closure of toilets in Barnard Castle.

A public meeting will be held on Tuesday, in the Witham Hall at 7pm, to discuss Teesdale District Council's decision not to reopen the public toilets in the town's Market Place.

Despite a petition of 500 names and pressure from Barnard Castle Town Council, the district council last week decided against reopening the toilets.

Whatever the outcome of the meeting, the council's constitution rules that a decision made by councillors cannot be revisited for six months unless notice of the motion is signed by at least seven members.

At Monday's town council meeting, Newton Wood, a councillor on Barnard Castle Town Council and Teesdale District Council, said the issue of the closure should be revisited.

He said: "The district council has plucked a figure of £50,000 to repair the toilets out of nowhere.

"We need to get to the bottom of where this figure has come from. They should never have been closed based on that evidence.

"If this was in the private sector, it would never have happened - a company making a decision on behalf of the shareholders based on that kind of evidence.

"The people of Barnard Castle are asking why their toilets have been shut when others remain open."