WINCHESTER civic chiefs look like they are going to be spending more than a penny on a revamp of their public toilets.

A new strategy for the loos is up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday September 13.

The council is drawing up a major programme of refurbishment and improvements.

It currently operates 10 toilets across the district with another currently closed in Middle Brook Street due to chronic anti-social behaviour.

They are at: Abbey Gardens, Market Lane, Chesil Street multi-storey, South Winchester and St Catherine's Park and Ride, the Arc, Coach Park Worthy Road, Basingwell Street in Bishop's Waltham, Station Road in Alresford and in Wickham and Denmead.

READ MORE HERE: Revamp on historic Winchester pub announced

The new strategy may see the reopening of the Middle Brook Street toilets.

Andy Hickman, head of programme, told the scrutiny committee: "Because of anti-social behaviour issues Middle Brook Street will be closed for the foreseeable future.

"Anti-social behaviour is difficult to tackle. We have regular anti-social behaviour in toilets and a lot of vandalism."

He said they cost around £200,000 a year to maintain and in the last three years the annual repair bill has been between £30-70,000.

The council has hired a firm to install censors to measure usage. Some toilets such as Chesil only get around 50 users a day but the Market Lane gets 900, or around 24,000 people a month.

The British Toilets Association conducted research and said the council does not have enough toilets to meet demand.

Addressing the need for a new strategy, senior councillor Kelsie Learney said: "We can't keep taking a piecemeal and reactive approach."

The council has long been criticised over the state of the toilets and the closure of loos such as Tower Street.

SEE MORE: City centre pub closes because of cost of living crisis

In the last 12 months there have been 52 formal complaints which Mr Hickman said he thought was low, but acknowledged that many people might be critical but not actually complain.

The complaints concern: Abbey Gardens, 19; Market Lane, 18; Bishop's Waltham, four; St Catherine's Park and Ride, three; South Winchester Park and Ride, two; Wickham, two; Alresford, two; Worthy Lane Coach Park, one; The Arc, one; Chesil and Denmead, nil.

The capital expenditure in the last 15 years has been: £99,000 Abbey Gardens, 2009-11; £28,000 Wickham, 2015-16; £32,000 Market Lane, 2017-18; £19,000, Station Road, Alresford, 2022-23;