A VILLAGE toilet block is being promoted on the Internet as a top site for gay sex - much to the annoyance of parish councillors.

The toilets, which stand in a Bramhope car park between the Fox and Hounds pub and nearby tennis courts, have frequently been used as a meeting place for gay men for around nine years.

But parish councillors were horrified to receive complaints of a website advertising the leafy lanes of Bramhope as a meeting place for homosexual men - and fear the site is encouraging more men to visit the toilets for indecent purposes.

Now they are asking for the toilets to be closed.

Councillor David Marshall said villagers had been shocked when they ran an Internet search on Bramhope-related sites - and stumbled across the website.

"It said the toilets were a good place to pick up men. The people who saw the site were very upset," he said.

He has also heard reports of Bramhope toilets being advertised in the personal columns of gay publications. And the extra publicity may be working - villagers once claimed up to 30 men were meeting in the toilets every night, but some believe their 'popularity' has grown.

Councillor Dawn Forman-Marshall said: "There has been a significant increase, especially on a weekend during the day. Gentlemen have been going into the ladies' toilets as they do not want to use the men's."

The parish council asked police to patrol the site, and even install a CCTV camera as a deterrent, but said this has had little or no effect.

Councillors claim residents and walkers visiting the village are becoming increasingly intimidated about using the toilets, and villagers have been offended by obscene graffiti.

"I don't know why these men would want to go in there. I think they get a thrill from the risk of being caught," said Coun Marshall.

Coun Clive Fox suggested a key for the toilets could be left with someone who lives near the toilet block, but said it would not be realistic to close the men's toilets and leave the ladies' open, as the council could be accused of discrimination.

The parish council has written to Leeds City Council, asking it to clean up the toilets, and temporarily close down the men's toilets in the hope the unwanted visitors will find somewhere else to meet.

Chairman John Mordy said: "There aren't any ramblers using them as all the footpaths are closed. There's no reason for anyone to be there."

l A plane-spotters' vantage point near Leeds Bradford Airport has also found its way on to the World Wide Web as a gay meeting place.

Plane Tree Fields car park, off Bayton Lane, has been recommended by an Internet user on a gay website.

The man wrote: "It's a public place, nothing too obvious, but you can sit in your car without any real bother from anyone."