A block of public toilets in Welshpool may need to be knocked down after the nature of its foundations was revealed to the town council.

Welshpool Town Council was told that repairing the Berriew Street public toilets may not be an option as a result of some unusual foundations under a section of the building at a meeting of the council’s services and property committee on March 20.

The council revealed that the toilet block was built upon a peat-bog, up to nine meters above a gravel bed below the building, supported on bored piles above a sea of soft mud, described as “something of an extraordinary feature”.  

While the original toilet block is supported on stilts, passing through the bog and into a gravel bed nine metres underground, the later extensions to the building which form a podium that surrounds the block is not supported by these measures.

This information was revealed to the council via a letter from someone who served on the staff of the Montgomeryshire District Council’s architects department in 1975, when the toilets were first built, and saw them being constructed.

County Times: A sketch of the unusual foundations of the public toilets on Berriew Street, Welshpool., featured

In the letter, the individual says that he wrote to the council after hearing that the toilet block had been fenced off due to safety concerns.

Amid discussions over the condition of the building and a plan of action, councillors mentioned that repairing the building would require underpinning its foundations.

The letter states: “My attention was drawn to the news item in The County Times on March 1, 2024, when notice was given that the block may close due to structural repairs and particularly over the suggestion that the foundations of the block may require underpinning as a remedy.

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“I would stress that underpinning the original structure would not be a logical recourse to the problem.”

The writer of the letter goes on to say that while the construction of the podium and raised ground floor was necessary at the time to provide adequate drainage falls, any extensions to the block would need specialist foundations.

The writer added: “The original toilet block seems quite structurally sound with no signs of any instability apparent.”

The question of what becomes of the block has now fallen back to the town council, who suggested re-opening talks with Powys County Council, who are entitled to first refusal over the purchase of the building.

As Cllr Phil Owen added: “Our best option for Powys to take it back as frankly I don’t think it’s capable of being sold or converted.”