PLANS are being made to close public toilets and reduce the number of free buses for school children.

Wirral's Labour group want to keep the council tax rise to a minimum, but it means £8 million of cuts are on the way.

Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are furious about proposed closures of Wirral's public toilets and cuts in the home to school transport service.

Tory group chief Cllr Jeff Green said: "By closing 17 of the borough's public conveniences Wirral council could save £320,000. But it strikes me as unnecessary and I think there are alternative ways we can make savings.

"As a party, we're not willing to accept these closures. We want to look at other methods such as bringing in new equipment and technology that would serve the public and keep down costs."

Cllr Stuart Kelly, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: "We are also particularly concerned about the withdrawal of the free bus service for Wirral's children.

"If children are allocated a place in a school outside their area, I think charging them to get there would be particularly unfair.

"There are also concerns about the environmental impact.

"More people would use cars to get their children to school and the roads would become more congested. We could end up shooting ourselves in the foot."

But council leader Cllr Stephen Foulkes, of the Labour group, believes that, despite objections, progress is being made.

He said: "If the main thing we are arguing about is the £320,000 savings on public conveniences, then we are quite happy. Where there are a lot of facilities around we still think that there is room for some savings.

"These toilets are constantly vandalised and used very little. I've looked at some of them and quite frankly you wouldn't even let your dog use them."

The relevant select committees will discuss the proposals before a final decision is made on them later this month.

"We must now start looking at curtailing growth in the budget in order to prevent a large council tax rise."