which is struggling to cope with the massive number of visitors it receives.

During the summer, Horsehoe Bay attracts thousands of visitors each day but the outdated toilet facilities are simply incapable of handling the weight of numbers.

Rated as one of the top ten beaches in the world, Horseshoe has over 7,000 sun worshippers on its shores midweek -- overloading its 25-year-old toilet block which has just three cubicles for women and two for men.

In November, construction will start on a new toilet block to take the beach into the next century. But in the meantime, a portable convenience has been brought in, complete with attendant, to ease the burden.

Parks director Bill Cook said: "The toilets there are totally inadequate and this year it really has got pretty bad.

"I think Works and Engineering did the right thing in putting a toilet trailer there. It will allievate the problem but not enough.'' The new block would be built with the popularity of Horseshore in mind and would include a deeper cesspit, he said.

Much of the space would come from the elimination of changing rooms, which he said were no longer necessary.

Mr. Cook said there had been complaints about the state of the toilets but said it was a constant battle to keep them clean in the face of the volume of traffic.

National Liberal Party official Graeme Outerbridge claimed the toilets were in a "horrendous state''.

He called on the Government to get to grips with the situation.

Andy Allen, who runs the concession at Horseshoe, said employees were doing everything possible to keep them clean.

He said an attendant was on duty in the facility seven days a week, in a bid to keep on top of the situation.

Much of the problem was created by the huge numbers of cruise ship passengers that visit between Monday and Friday. And sand dragged in by visitors made the problem much worse.

"The new toilets will ease the pressure tremendously,'' he said.