Weymouth’s seafront ‘super loo’ will get built – even though the new Dorset Council will be in charge by the time work is ready to start.

Leases on the former tourist information and adjoining buildings on the Esplanade run until 2020 – a year after the new unitary council comes into being.

But the £400,000-plus, for the development, will be ring-fenced and used for the toilets, borough councillors were told on Thursday.

Shadow Executive member Cllr Colin Huckle said that an ‘in principle’ decision had been made to see the toilet plan to fruition.

His comments came after criticism by Cllr Ian Bruce, about the time it has taken to bring new toilets to the town.

He said there had also been criticism, in the Echo letters column, about the ongoing lack of cleanliness, shortage of soap and extractor fans not working.

“We’ve had a consultation, so called, and some sort of report to the management committee which does not provide all the toilets we need. If we don’t spend some money now I don’t think the new unitary (Dorset Council) will,” said Cllr Bruce.

Cllr Kate Wheller, who has led the group overseeing the new loos admitted there had been some delay in agreeing what was going to happen to the main seafront loos but said that a further report had been agreed to investigate a more expensive option, would not hold the process up. She said the building was tied into a lease arrangement until 2020.

She said other toilets had been agreed, and funded, for the Pier Bandstand and Greenhill, and she hoped to report back in the near future on a replacement for the Bond Street toilets.

Cllr Wheller admitted there had been some teething problems with a new cleaning contractor who took over maintenance at the start of the season but said those difficulties now seemed to have been resolved with the busiest toilets being cleaned six times a day.

“The problem is that they can be cleaned and five minutes later somebody messes them up and then you get complaints. It’s hard to know what you can do about that.”

She said that major events, such as the recent Seafood Festival, saw the town’s toilets coping with extra demand – without the need for additional portable loos to be brought in.