A £500,000 toilet block has been branded a "disgrace" by a district councillor.

Matthew Patten (Cons, Bradfield, Wrabness and Wix) slammed the council's spend on the loos in Frinton at a corporate management committee meeting yesterday.

He said: "In the budget, the council are planning to spend £1 million on Jaywick, which is third on the list in the country in terms of deprivation.

"It's a disgrace that £500,000 has been spent on some bogs in Frinton."

Committee members challenged environment portfolio holder, Michael Talbot, on the reasons behind the high costs for the block in Connaught Avenue.

The St Osyth and Point Clear councillor said: "The toilets were one of three major projects, with the other two the new Clacton leisure centre and the town centre redevelopments.

"As the toilets are located in a conservation area, they had to have as many environmentally friendly features as possible.

"For example, there's a storage tank to collect rain water, which will be used to flush the toilets.

"These features will help to cut costs, and will save about £40,000 over the 50-year life of the block."

He added: "We always appreciated the toilets would be expensive, but they are something that we can all be proud of."

But some committee members remained unconvinced, in light of budget plans to introduce toilets in Clacton and Dovercourt for just £50,000 each.

The portfolio holder himself admitted that the sum wasn't large enough.

"I don't think you can construct a brick-built toilet for £50,000," he said.

"Possibly you could have prefabricated blocks for that amount."

As a result of Mr Talbot's admission, Mr Patten successfully proposed a motion to formally state the committee's concerns about the budget proposals with regard to the toilets.

He said: "There is a serious discrepancy between the figures presented to the committee and what the portfolio holder has said.

"We're being asked to vote on these toilets in Clacton and Dovercourt when there is a major doubt in our ability to finance them.

"The costs seem out of kilter with any sense of reality."

The budget proposals will be voted on this evening at a meeting of the full council at 7.30pm at the Prince's Theatre in Clacton Town Hall.