A shelter will be kept and a toilet block will remain open in Bourne End despite reports of anti-social behaviour and vandalism by youths.

Councillors on Wooburn and Bourne End parish council’s open spaces committee agreed to keep the “status quo” after debating the idea to close the toilets and remove the metal shelter on Wakeman Road.

The idea was raised following complaints from businesses, including Bourne End Motor Company, about anti-social behaviour and vandalism to council property.

Bourne End PCSO, James Bowditch, said police received reports that fires had been set by youths in the toilets and the bins.

Despite this, Jim Penfold, chair of the village residents’ association, said the idea of closing the toilets should be “instantly disregarded” and that anti-social behaviour in the road “moves forward in waves.”

He said: “I don’t have to elaborate on what happens if there aren’t public toilets but the very thought of taking them away should be thrown out instantly.

“You will get a group of youths who behave fairly reasonably and they grow up and go away and a new group will form. Now and again you get someone who is pretty awful. We had someone who was a trainee arsonist who was setting fire to all sorts of things.”

The shelter was erected in 2001 as part of a joint venture between the parish council and Wycombe District Council.

Mr Penfold said: “It put was there to encourage people to congregate there. If you take it away, people will still meet there. And what concerns me is that they will be then meeting in the doorway of the day care centre and the doorway of the library or the community centre.

“They are still going to be there. If there is anti-social behaviour it is still going to occur. Just taking it the shelter is not going to stop it. In fact, it would exacerbate it.

“If it was taken away I think we would find that people will be climbing on the roof of the day centre again which was just recently put back up.”

PCSO Bowditch agreed that the issue was “difficult” but did not think “tearing down” the shelter would solve the problems.

Councillors overwhelmingly agreed to keep the toilets and the shelter, with cllr Margaret Marshall saying it would be a “shame” to lose it.

Cllr Sue Wagner added: “I've lived in Bourne End for 35 years and kids have always congregated there. If we get rid of the shelter, it will just move the problem.”