A COMMUNITY group stand to lose a £12k grant to refurbish drug-hit toilets after asbestos was apparently discovered by council staff.

The Mechanics Institution Trust secured the cash from charity Groundwork to makeover the toilet block in Faringdon Road Park, where last summer 200 discarded needles were found in one day. 

The group hoped to turn the red brick building into a base for their volunteer gardeners, who work on the historic railway village park.

But the trust stands to lose the £12,000 grant at the end of this month. 

The latest delay comes after officers from Swindon Borough Council, which owns the building, discovered asbestos in the toilet block. 

But sources close to the discussions suggested that this could be an “excuse” that “many people don’t believe”.

South Swindon Parish Council chairman Chris Watts warned that it could spell the end for efforts to refurbish the toilet block.

He told a meeting of the parish’s leisure and amenities committee this month: “The latest we have back from the council is that the building has excessive asbestos in it. This is not something we can verify. Their suggestion is that the costs of actually resolving the asbestos problem in the building would be far greater than the actual amount of money they have.”

The parish hope to take on responsibility of the park in the future.

Daniel Rose, director of the Mechanics Institution Trust, said: “We continue to be very frustrated by the lack of communication and progress on this issue with the council. We want to see that building regenerated.” 

He said that the trust had been given “extension after extension” to their Groundwork grant – and faced losing the £12,000 by the end of the month. 

A spokesman for Swindon Borough Council said: “We are liaising with the parish council over the future of the toilet block in order to reach a resolution that suits all parties.”

Last July, shopkeeper Paul White complained to the Adver after finding a cache of 200 drug needles around the toilet block. 

He said: “I saw one person injecting themselves in the stomach out in the open, groups of people going into the toilets and doing who knows what, it beggars belief.

“This is not a nice place to be at the moment. I really feel for the residents here.”

In response, the borough said that its officers had begun daily inspections of the park.