PUBLIC toilets in Ilkley's Riverside Gardens have won the dubious accolade of the most vandalised in the whole district, according to cleansing bosses.

And the loos near Ilkley swimming pool on Denton Road are being used as a doss house by tramps at night, says the same report.

The report, which will go before the district's area panels has been prepared by Bradford Council's internal best value team.

But Ilkley District Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, who is environment boss at City Hall, said she suspected that the report could be already out of date because it describes the toilet at Ilkley's Riverside Gardens as closed.

The toilets were closed after a vandal poured underwater setting concrete down the toilet bowl as well as damaging other fittings.

The toilet block's notoriety as a meeting place for homosexual men wanting sex in public is thought to be the motivation behind the attacks.

It featured on a gay web site earlier this year, described as an 'active' spot for 'cottaging' by men over 35 years of age.

Cleansing bosses warned that the block could be closed altogether if the vandal attacks continued.

Ten years ago this month, public toilets on the edge of Ilkley Moor, next to the White Wells car park, were demolished because the building had become a seedy magnet for homosexuals seeking public gratification with strangers.

After repairs costing £1,000 the Riverside Gardens toilet was opened again in September with limited facilities. It is still open but the men's toilet cubicle remains closed.

Coun Hawkesworth said that the Riverside Gardens toilets did not deserve their 'worst in the district' reputation.

She said: "It is not a bad toilet - there are others in the district that are so bad they need closing. What the report is saying is that there have been major problems there.

"I am extremely concerned that there are toilets in this condition in a highly marketed area like Ilkley."

The report also states that the public toilets on Denton Road, Ilkley, have become a dossing down area for tramps at night.

It says that that swimming pool staff would be willing to lock and unlock a gate at night and in the morning if one was fitted by cleansing staff to prevent people sleeping there.

The public toilet block at Sugar Hill, Addingham, is also mentioned in the report. It says it is mainly used by walkers and also plagued by vandals and graffiti artists.

The new toilet block in Ilkley's central car park, which underwent a £120,000 refurbishment, is hailed as one of the best in the district.

The introduction of an attendant in the pay-as-you-go toilets, according to the report, has solved problems of graffiti and vandalism.