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Super-loo 150 Year Pay-off

A £600,000 "super loo" in Cambridge has been criticised as a waste of taxpayers' money - because it could take 150 years to pay for it. The "state-of-the-art" toilets in Chesterton Road boast a River Cam view, a rented office and a built-in recycling centre.

But since they opened in January last year, the colourful conveniences have attracted one person every half an hour - paying 20p each to go. In the last year 20,000 people have used the loo, bringing in £4,000 to Cambridge City Council coffers.

At that rate the "futuristic" lavatories will still need to be standing in 2160 to pay the £606,000 the council splashed out on them.

Nicholas Hillman, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Cambridge, said: "After putting millions of taxpayers' money in Icelandic banks, and losing huge sums on the 2008 Folk Festival, Lib Dem councillors are now flushing our money straight down the pan.

"In the past year it has cost £30 of taxpayers' money to spend a penny in Cambridge, if you divide £600,000 with 20,000. That must be some sort of record. I am in favour of modern public conveniences in useful places but this sort of waste is counter-productive."

A council spokeswoman defended the cost of the swanky loos. She said: "Value may be assessed in terms of the number of users, although this number will be insignificant when compared with the number of people who pass by this location and admire the building. What cannot be measured financially is the benefit of public toilets that allow people to go out, who might otherwise be housebound due to the lack of public toilets."

8th March 2010