Forest loos are under threat. Having planned to save £25,000 in the coming year on the cleaning and maintenance budget for public conveniences, Forest of Dean District Council finds itself caught short – having a leak in the budget to the tune of £10,000.

The council's Executive Committee asked its Environmental Overview and Scrutiny Committee to have a closer peek at possible savings. The Housing and Environmental Services director consequently produced a "cost per visit" analysis of the district's 22 loo blocks as a guide to possible closures.

It turns out that users are, quite literally, "spending a penny". (For younger readers, the phrase derives from the days when women's conveniences had coin-in-the-slot turnstiles and men's cubicles cost the same. Older readers may remember Bessie Braddock campaigning to get rid of the charge, and the turnstiles she got stuck in.)

It turns out that (the report doesn't mention who was counting) that the dozen main loos in the four main towns and big villages cost a 1p or less per "customer". The hit parade in descending order is:

Lydney: Newerne Street carpark

Cinderford: Woodside Street

Newent: Watery Lane (no comment)

Coleford: Station Way

Woolaston: Peter's Cross

Lydbrook: Lower Lydbrook

Newnham: Riverside

Lydney: Bream Road

Mitcheldean

Newent: Lewell Street

Coleford: Newland Street

Cinderford: Denecroft.

At the other end of the scale, a call of nature costs an astonishing £1.72 at Parkend. Closing Parkend would save £1,595pa, and additional savings would mount as follows:

Littledean (48ppp) – £1,169

Drybrook (40ppp) – £1,584

Bream (37ppp) – £2,774

Blakeney (34ppp) – £5,996

St Briavels (31ppp) – £19,698

Dymock (31ppp) – £21,839

Ruspidge (30ppp) – £24,976

Ruardean (26ppp) – £27,952

Lydbrook Central (21ppp) – £31,421.

The Environment Advisory Panel, in examining premises and locations, suggested that the eight town loos were important in promoting the local economy, and those at Woolaston, Lydbrook and Newnham were important for tourism. The other 11 could face going down the pan.

A closer look suggested that Cinderford's loos were inconveniences, badly sited and in p*** poor condition. Its town council agrees that demolition of existing loos and replacement with a new block in the Heywood Road car park would be an improvement.

At Lydney, availability of loos in the new Tesco makes the Bream Road premises possibly surplus to requirements. Coleford's old Newland Street block was kept open by public pressure when the new block opened. Newent's Watery Lane block serves schoolchildren and the playing fields.

For the rural loos, the council is asking parish councils if they could see their way towards the cost of upkeep. They also float the idea of providing a convenience at Redbrook as a tourist facility.

The Review invites readers' contributions to a "Good Loo Guide".