The public toilets in Ledbury's Bye Street could soon be open for the first time since before the pandemic.

A combination of vandalism and Covid lockdown rules has kept the block closed for more than two years.

But community group Love Ledbury, which is responsible for the loos, is now working with Ledbury Town Council to get them repaired and open to the public again.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Ledbury Town Council are working with the group who own the toilets to carry out repairs as part of the Great Places to Visit fund that we have been awarded.

“The fund is about getting people back to our town, and as part of that the council recognises the importance of the toilets on Bye Street and have agreed to fund much-needed repairs to get them opened.

Hereford Times: Repairs are needed in order to get the Bye Street toilets open againRepairs are needed in order to get the Bye Street toilets open again

“We are currently obtaining quotes for the works and hope to be in a position to approve the works in the very near future.”

Bye Street toilets have been closed on and off since 2014, when Herefordshire Council decided to stop funding a number of public loos across the county.

Ledbury public toilets vandalised

Eventually, the toilets in Church Lane were kept open by the county council, while Love Ledbury was formed to raise money from the community to run the facilities in Bye Street.

Love Ledbury was awarded a £7,400 grant from Ledbury Town Council in 2014, in part to fund coin-operated locks on the toilets.

It has since asked the town council to take on the annual cost of keeping the toilets open - a figure thought to be in the region of £10,000.

READ MORE: Vandalism Closes Ledbury Loos

Vandalism puts the future of Bye Street toilets in the pan

When the toilets have been open, there has usually been a fee for using them. But they have been opened free of charge for community events including Ledbury Carnival, the October Fair, the Christmas lights switch-on, Community Day and Ledbury Poetry Festival’s Fun Day.

As well as being shut during the pandemic, Bye Street toilets have been closed a number of times because of vandalism.

Damage caused by vandalism has also threatened the future of the loos in Church Street in recent years, with Herefordshire Council saying in 2014 that the cost of repeatedly carrying out repairs could result in the council re-evaluating the way the toilets are managed.