A MAJOR makeover for public toilets in the Fakenham and Wells area and across the rest of North Norfolk should bring facilities up to the highest standards.

A MAJOR makeover for public toilets in the Fakenham and Wells area and across the rest of North Norfolk should bring facilities up to the highest standards.

In the next two financial years North Norfolk District Council is proposing to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on major upgrades at loos across the district.

The money will provide the popular holiday area with top-class toilets.

Peter Moore, portfolio holder for resources at the council, said it planned to bring all public conveniences up to a high standard and then keep them that way. He said: “We will never get there unless we have a big push on this. It is no good waiting until bits of money come in.”

Mr Moore said embarking on a major refurbishment programme rather than doing the work piecemeal had its own benefits, in that it meant the council could make economy-of- scale cost savings.

Priority will be given to the most-used public loos, though the council will also take into account whether other facilities exist in the area and the availability of funding.

In the year to next April the council aims to add an extra £60,000 from its reserves to its pre-existing toilet maintenance budget. This will mean the council will spend £200,000 on 11 toilet blocks.

New toilets are expected to open at Cromer's new information centre this month, and improvement work to the Albert Street toilets at Holt and the second phase of work on the Beach Road toilets at Sea Palling should begin in the autumn. Early designs for a major upgrade of, or a possible rebuild of, the loos on The Prom-enade in Mundesley are also expected soon.

Work will also take place at Walsingham, among other places.

For the following year the council is proposing work at a further 21 sites, and Mr Moore said plans would be drawn up in consultation with parish councils and local people.