A village church is bidding to build its own toilet to stop people spending a penny in other parishioners' homes.
St Marys Church in Walpole, near Halesworth, has applied to East Suffolk Council for the "construction of permanent (no footings required) compostable toilet within wooden shed-like structure."
The grade-II listed church, which is a member of Blyth Valley Churches, is located off the B1117 Halesworth Road and run by a Parochial Church Council.
In the heritage statement, it says: "The church is used as a communal space for events for the village e.g. musical evenings, cultural speakers and Christmas celebrations.
“There are no public toilets in the village and so there has been a need identified for a toilet for people who are attending events especially those who are coming from the further reaches of the village.”
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As a result, it says: "We have on numerous occasions escorted people back to our own private residences or more recently borrowed a camping toilet and housed it in a toilet tent.”
In the proposal, the new toilet would be sited ten metres west of the church tower in a 7ft by 5ft wooden shed which would be "painted green to reflect the hedging surrounding the churchyard".
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The statement adds: "The toilet shed will be screened by a willow screen for privacy and also to keep the feel of the Victorian churchyard.
"An accessible path will be added in order to support elderly and physically disabled parishioners.”
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The toilet would be a "WooWoo Loo" which is a "waterless, odourless compost toilet".
The church has a closed churchyard and burials are now in a plot further away.
The shed will be situated away from any gravestones.
The conclusion in the statement says the toilet “would allow us to hold a wider range of events and encourage the attendance of those in the community who may have previously avoided attending services / events as a result of the lack of an accessible toilet.”
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