Town councillors in Dorchester have voted £20,000 towards the cost of a pavilion at The Great Field.

The building, which will house a café and offices, will provide public access toilets in the area for the first time.

Cllr Molly Rennie said that if the town council wanted to put public toilets on the field the costs was likely to be in the region of £250,000 for the toilets alone.

She told the council’s management committee on Tuesday evening that the £20,000 being given to the building of the pavilion represented good value for money, but she also asked for the council to negotiate what times and on what days the toilets would be open.

Cllr Stella Jones supported the £20,000 towards the cost of the pavilion: “I’m quite happy to spend the money on this. The field is used quite a lot on evenings and weekends and we should try and get some additional opening hours to meet this.”

The pavilion is being built by a locally-based charity, the Alcohol Education Trust, which offers alcohol advice to young people.

The committee also heard of other plans for the area including a new network of paths in September; a tree-planting scheme between November and March; new play equipment by late spring or early summer next year and the start on building an amphitheatre this autumn.

Cllr David Leaper said that Damers School were interested in using the amphitheatre for their events and there had also been interest from the residents association and other groups for various outdoor events.

Cllr Les Fry called for the paths to be built of material which could be used throughout the year, whatever the weather, suitable for joggers, those with baby buggies or even for a formal ‘park run’ event.

The community facilities, once installed by the Duchy, will be managed by Dorchester Town Council.