Tim Hailstone, of Swannaton Road, Dartmouth, writes:

In your piece last week about the possibility of some Dartmouth public lavatories being closed during the Winter months, the annual cost of operating the ones close to Dartmouth Castle was said to be £14,000.

The costs incurred specifically to keep the castle lavatories open simply cannot add up to anywhere near this figure. Someone comes to clean this facility most days (but not every day) and spends a maximum of half an hour there.

Cleaning materials and toilet rolls must also be purchased. That's it. It can't come to more than about £4,000 a year.

One must assume, therefore, that the £14,000 includes a very significant allocation of SHC's central overheads and leaving the lavatories locked will not have the effect of reducing these.

It seems likely that closing this public convenience for four months would save no more than £1500 and would be a very irritating inconvenience to visitors to Dartmouth, of whom many visit Dartmouth Castle on Winter weekends.