A SET of public toilets in Ilkley has been named as an "active" spot for outdoor gay

sex - also known as cottaging - on an internet site.

The toilets, at the Riverside Gardens, are described on the website as a daytime cruising area for men over the age of 35.

Repeated vandalism attacks on the block, believed to be a protest at homosexual activity taking place there, forced it to close last year.

But the toilets are due to reopen at Easter - in time for the picnic season when the gardens are heavily used by families.

The website - whose address we will not

publish for decency reasons - lists 'cottaging' hotspots all over the world.

Users can post messages there to arrange meetings or ask for recommendations on where they can pick up other men for casual sex.

An anonymous user posted a message on the site asking: "Anyone know of any cruising areas in the Ilkley/Guiseley/Menston area? ***** skinhead needs some fun."

The response, posted two days later, said: "Ilkley toilets (down by the riverside) are still active!!!!! Mostly mature guys (by that I mean over 35). I have only been during day so not sure about nights."

This week police admitted that cracking down on cottaging was not a priority.

Inspector Paul Clynch, of Ilkley Police, said he had received complaints about cottaging at the toilets last year which he passed to the

West Yorkshire Police community safety department.

"They arrange for outreach workers to go out and speak to the people involved," he said. "We wouldn't take any enforcement unless we found that the outreach system wasn't

working. It is much better to have people who understand to go in and find out what's

happening."

And community relations officer PC Peter Stone, a member of the West Yorkshire Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Policing Initiative, said the days of using plain clothes policemen and entrapment to catch offenders were long gone.

"We have got a perennial problem of

cottaging and cruising throughout the county. It's a low police priority," he said.

"We join forces with the sexual health groups which work in the particular areas. They would hopefully then be allowed

sufficient time to go out and speak to people who may be using that cottage."

PC Stone said uniformed officers would only be brought in if the problem persisted.

"It's very easy to say they just want locking up and the key throwing away. But we have to look at a variety of ways of trying to police this particular issue."

Insp Clynch said there was no evidence that the vandalism at the block, which included cement being poured down a toilet bowl, was linked to cottaging, but that it was a "possibility".

"It was a concerted attempt to cause serious damage to the toilets which tends to suggest that it's a bit more than petty vandalism," he said.

Cleansing bosses at Bradford Council have warned that another vandalism attack will mean the block has to be closed for good.

"Unfortunately this block of toilets is subject to an excessive amount of vandalism," said a council spokesman.

"However we plan to repair and re-open them before Easter. If they continue to be seriously vandalised we will have to look at other options including permanent closure."

But, according to PC Stone, closing the

toilets will simply move the cottaging problem elsewhere in the town.

"You will not stop it. You can deter and you can make it more difficult and some people will be deterred."