COUNCILLORS in Orkney have agreed plans to install public toilets at the world-famous Ring of Brodgar.

It has been decided that permanent loos should be built at the Unesco World Heritage Site although it will be 2027 by the time they are ready to be used, according to a report.

However, it has also been said that signs should be put in place to guide visitors to the nearest toilets in the area following reports of people using the nearby loch-side or road verge due to the lack of facilities.

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Monthly cleaning of the site’s car park will also take place over the summer months, from May to September, for the next three years under the new plans.

The Press and Journal reports that plans to build temporary seasonal toilets at the site were due to cost £95,000.

However, councillors dubbed a £4000 offer from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) as “shameful” and so were forced to view a new report which set out three options.

They have ultimately hosen to see permanent toilets put in place at a cost of £60,000 which will be shared by the council and HES although it will take three years before these are installed due to the “complexity” of the project.

The process requires a feasibility study to be done and a building warrant as well as planning permission.

The next report on the toilets will be due in November this year.

Although councillors unanimously agreed on the plans, Councillor Owen Tierney asked why temporary, portable toilets couldn’t be put in place.

He was told that for anything to be at the site for more than 28 days, the full planning permission and building warrant would still be needed.

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The council’s head of enterprise and economic growth Sweyn Johnston said: “You couldn’t imagine a more restrictive site, in terms of trying to put anything in there.”

Elsewhere, Councillor Duncan Tullock spoke in favour of the plans for permanent toilets and compared the need to training the public to training his puppy.

“It’s against the law to defecate in public,” he said.

“If we give them the information there is a toilet two miles away and another one three miles away, we’ve got coach drivers who can say it’s the last stop for the next hour – it’s not insurmountable.

“We’ve got to train the public not to defecate where there are no facilities. It’s as simple as that.”

The plans will now go on to full council to be ratified.

It's not the first popular attraction in Scotland to face issues with public toilets as we told last year how villagers in Glenfinnan called for them to deal with an overwhelming number of tourists.