A SEARCH for a site for new toilets which has lasted almost 30 years could still end in disappointment.

Proposals to build new public toilets in Northallerton have been put forward ever since Hambleton District Council was created in 1974.

The issue was placed at the top of the agenda two years ago when structural problems forced the authority to close the High Street toilets, but efforts to find a new site have so far been in vain.

Now the authority has admitted it may not be possible to provide a replacement.

The council had set aside £84,000 to build toilets this year, but this will now be withdrawn and spent on other projects.

Head of environmental health Eric Kendall said the authority had two options once it closed the High Street toilets - building new ones on the same site or not providing a replacement.

Instead, the town would have to rely on the Applegarth toilets and new ones which will be available at the redesigned Tesco supermarket.

But Northallerton mayor Jack Dobson said the town would be caught short if it did not get additional toilets.

He said: To rely on the Applegarth and Tesco toilets for a town this size is totally inadequate. I think this is unacceptable."

Environmental health vice-chairman Carl Les said no decision would be made until the authority's town centre study had been completed.

He said: "We're all disappointed that once again we're not at a point where we're making a definite decision.

"This issue has been on the go ever since the council was created in 1974 but, if there is a town centre study, it does make sense to wait instead of going off at a tangent now."

But he said the fact the town had managed with only the Applegarth toilets for the past two years would be an argument in favour of not replacing the High Street toilets.

He said: "There are towns where they is only one set of toilets and that seems to work. And if we are going to put a building on the site of the High Street toilets that is going to have an impact.