THE council has defended spending £25,000 on upgrading public toilets just nine months before they closed.
The Express revealed last week that Cheshire East Council spent £24,368.20 on upgrading the facilities at Churchill Way in Macclesfield last October but were forced to close them last month when the landlord terminated the lease.
It prompted complaints from residents saying the lease should have checked before the revamp.
But the council says health and safety concerns meant they had no choice but to stump up the cash.
A council spokesman said: “Cheshire East Council had no option but to carry out the urgent works on the
toilet facilities at Churchill Way last year.
“We responded to complaints from Macclesfield residents about the poor condition of the toilets and acted in good faith. They had become impossible to clean and for health and safety reasons, had to be replaced.”
The spokesman said the first the council knew of the lease ending was when the landlord served them notice last December after 42 years. He added: “The maintenance works which started in October 2015 were required under the terms of the lease that facilities should be kept in a good state of repair.”
The toilets had to be closed after the current owner decided to sell the site.
It is unknown whether the future owner will offer a new lease to the council.
