The building of a controversial £100,000 public toilet could go down the pan after a row erupted over a petition that contained “thousands” of signatures of support that has mysteriously disappeared.

The building of a controversial £100,000 public toilet could go down the pan after a row erupted over a petition that contained “thousands” of signatures of support that has mysteriously disappeared.

Conservative councillor Keith Baker has demanded that Woodley Liberal Democrats prove they submitted a petition that supported the building of a new loo in Woodley Town Centre.

He said without the petition Wokingham Borough and Woodley Town council could not be sure people wanted the money from the Sandford Farm development spent on the public convenience. The councillor said the money could be well spent on Woodford Park instead.

Wokingham Borough Council set aside £100,000 in 2013 to fund a new public toilet following the closure of the old toilet in Headley Road car park in the same year.

Woodley Labour party started a petition for the borough council to fund a new toilet.

The petition received more than 1,500 signatures from residents and was passed on to the borough council for consideration.

Cllr Baker said he was under the impression that the Woodley Liberal Democrats had also submitted a similar petition, with “thousands” of additional votes and on the back of the two petitions, the borough council agreed to set aside the money.

But when Cllr Baker asked for proof of both petitions from the borough council’s officers, they only had the Labour petition on record.

He said: “I asked the Liberal Democrats when they submitted the petition but I have been given deathly silence.

“We are all under the assumption that the Liberal Democrats had done their own petition on the back of Labour’s petition with additional signatures within the thousands.

“On the back of both the petitions we located £100,000 in section 106 money to fund the toilet, and Woodley Town Council will have to pay for the running costs, which will be between £10,000 to £15,000 a year.

Cllr Baker took to online forum Streetlife to demand answers over when the Liberal Democrats’ petition was submitted but his questions had gone unanswered.

He added that unless the Liberal Democrats can prove that they submitted a petition he has doubts in his mind over what the funds should be spent on.

But former Woodley Town councillor Beth Rowland, said she worked on a toilet petition with the Liberal Democrats at least ten years ago, and it was submitted to the borough council.

Mrs Rowland said it’s possible the petition has been lost in the council’s system.

She said: “It was before the Labour party’s petition because we knew the toilets were going.

“It should have been logged by the borough council but I’m not sure if their records go back that far.” The former councillor added that she still thinks there is a need for a new public toilet in Woodley.

She said: “People like me who are disabled need public toilets. So do mums with their children and sometimes people need to use a toilet very quickly.

“People were always asking us when the toilets are coming back.”