PUBLIC toilets across Swindon will not be allowed to go down the pan, councillors have pledged.

For the past few months Swindon councillors have been probing the state of the 25 toilets in the town.

And on Wednesday Coun Michael Bray (Con, Freshbrook) presented a report to cabinet.

His group's report recommended fitting automatic flushing toilets to all public facilities, that measures such as CCTV should be installed to deter vandalism and anti-social behaviour, and that councillors should review public toilets every year.

Coun Bray said: "The standard of public toilets contributes to the overall image of the town because it represents a vital service to visitors and locals.

"We should provide high quality, publicly accessible toilets and capital funding should be available for repair and upgrades on a rolling basis. The task group has a vision that over the next 10 years Swindon will have public toilets it is proud of and that meets the needs of the people."

Coun Phil Young (Con, Covingham and Nythe), cabinet member for economic development, said: "It is tempting to treat reports like this lightly because toilets can lead to all kinds of humour.

"But it really is important that we get this right.

"People won't come here to see our toilets.

"But toilet provision is one of the things that if we don't get it right, then people will stop coming.

"So I'm pleased to see we're taking this seriously."

Hilary Pitts, head of education and children's services at Swindon Council, told the meeting that at a recent youth forum she was told the lack of decent public toilets in Swindon topped youngsters' list of concerns.

Coun Nick Martin (Con, Shaw and Nine Elms), cabinet member for resources, said: "I have travelled the civilised world and can say we have some of the worst toilets.

"All I can think is that we have some pretty sick individuals who like to spend their lives visiting loos to smash them up. This is something we need to spend time paying attention to.

"Visitors often judge a place by its loos. And I wouldn't want Swindon to be judged by the loos we have here."