RESIDENTS have been urged to kick up a stink – and fight to save seven Oxford toilets from closure.

Toilets in Knights Road, Blackbird Leys, Castle Street, Littlemore, Woodstock Road, South Parade, Barns Road and Headington Hill Park are now almost certain to be closed, sold off or demolished after a knife-edge vote by Oxford city councillors.

Labour-run Oxford City Council wants to save £50,000 by shutting the facilities and upgrading toilets in Gloucester Green in the city centre.

But a petition is now being circulated in the hope of forcing the Town Hall into an eleventh hour rethink.

On Monday, with a vote on the issue tied, Labour Lord Mayor Mary Clarkson used her casting vote to rubberstamp the closures. The contentious issue could be called in for a further round of examination.

The strength of feeling on the streets of Oxford was clear last night as the public said “don’t shut our loos”.

Steward Baker, 59, of Abingdon Road, said: “I think it’s silly and I would urge the council to rethink. We need more toilets, not less. If you just pop into McDonald’s to use their facilities they are not going to be happy.”

Campaigners said they would be out in Templars Square shopping centre on Friday collecting signatures.

Steve Goddard, the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for Oxford East, who organised the petition, said: “This is something the city council has got so plainly wrong.

“If enough people make their voices heard, the council might change the habit of a lifetime and listen to what the public wants. I’m not denying the city council has cash difficulties, but it has to choose what is appropriate and what is not.

“These particular set of cuts are likely to affect young mothers and the elderly – and that’s just wrong.”

In the longer-term the Town Hall wants a partnership of shops and businesses to let people use their toilets, to compensate for the closures.

Mrs Clarkson suggested efforts should be made to improve facilities where they were busiest.

She said: “The main place where we need toilets is the city centre and we need good quality ones. In other areas it would be nice to have them, but there are plenty of other suburban areas that don’t have toilets.

“You have to be resourceful. I have brought up four children and we always found somewhere to go.”

But Brian Lester, a former chairman of Blackbird Leys Parish Council, added: “I think it’s disgusting – we have been beating on about cleanliness up here for years, but for this council to be pulling these kinds of stunts, well, it’s outrageous.

“The council is not doing what people want them to do – they have got to take notice of the voters.”

gsheldrick@oxfordmail.co.uk To sign the petition visit oxfordeastlibdems.org.uk/ petitions/3/sign-new.html