DOING your business and spending a penny in Hook could be different experiences in future.

Hook Parish Council is considering converting the Reading Road public toilets into office space. The plan is to spend £20,000 converting the current building into space for two businesses while retaining a single multi-use pay toilet.

The plan, put forward by Councillor Antony Hunter, is a response to Hart District Council’s decision last year to stop funding public toilets in north Hampshire villages.

Other parish councils, such as in Odiham and Hartley Wintney, have since taken over funding of the public toilets, but the district council has handed a deadline of the end of March for Hook to come up with a plan.

Before the meeting, Cllr Hunter told The Gazette: “At the moment, the toilets have four cubicles each for ladies and gents and one for disabled users.

“It is unnecessarily big and I think that our feeling is that we do not need all that space for a loo.

“I believe that there is a demand in the village for a small letting unit for smaller businesses, but until we get members to say we are going down that route, we cannot go out there and find people who want it.”

Under the plans, the district council would lease the building to the parish council in return for a long-term peppercorn rent.

The toilets would then be converted. Cllr Hunter hopes that £20,000 conversion cost would be recouped in time by the estima-ted annual £8,000 rent from businesses, which would also cover the cost of servicing the single toilet.

The scheme has the backing of the district council.

However, Emma Broom, corporate director at Hart District Council, has told the parish council that if the plan falls through, the toilets will close and be replaced by a community toilet scheme, in which pubs and restaurants will be paid to provide facilities for the public.