street+scene+-+bits+and+pieces+-+public+toilets

=**Council supports residents' campaign**= =**for a Community Toilet scheme**= HFRA Statement, 18.12.07
 * investigation launched into the setting up of a 'Community Toilets' scheme for cafes, pubs, shops and public buildings to provide public toilets**

At a meeting of the Better Places Partnership on Monday evening, 17th December, the Council [Cllr Lorna Reith, Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion and Involvement (and also Deputy Leader) and Niall Bolger, Director of the Urban Environment department] agreed to launch an investigation into the development of a 'Community Toilets' scheme for cafes, pubs and public buildings to provide public toilets throughout all areas of Haringey. Dave Morris, the Secretary of the Haringey Federation of Residents Associations, successfully presented a joint proposal on behalf of the HFRA and the Haringey Forum for Older People. This follows separate lobbying from both organisations over the last couple of years, a recent publicity drive and the joining of forces.

The lack of public toilets around the borough is a serious issue adversely affecting thousands of people. Many other Councils, including most recently neighbouring Waltham Forest (26 'Community Toilets' so far), have begun to introduce similar schemes ensuring easy public access to Community Toilets - through existing cafes, pubs and shops.

There are currently only 7 functioning public toilets run by Haringey Council. The new scheme could be established through negotiating agreements with cafe/pub/shop owners as in the London Borough of Richmond where there are now 70 such public toilets identified by a 'Community Toilet Scheme' sticker in their windows at the front of their premises. The Richmond and Waltham Forest schemes include many chains with branches in Haringey (eg Marks & Spencers, KFC and Waitrose) and many independent pubs and cafes, so there should be no problem getting local agreement.

Such a scheme can ensure not only very many public toilets, but also better, cheaper, cleaner, safer and well-looked after ones. The scheme could also include those in public buildings, such as libraries and community centres. The Council is also being encouraged to look into passing bye-laws or making it a condition of a trading licence for pubs and cafes. The locations, when agreed, could be publicised on street signs, noticeboards and special maps.

It seems to be an issue whose time for action has arrived....

//“Haringey Forum for Older People supports all initiatives to work together on this longstanding issue that affects most older people. The Council developing a community toilets scheme will encourage older people to retain their independence, as at present many are reluctant to leave their homes to go to the shops, post office, library, community centre or other local facility if they can’t access public toilets. Getting out and about is one of the priorities of “Experience Counts” - Haringey’s Strategy for Older People.”// - Abdool Alli, Chair Haringey Forum for Older People

//'We're very pleased that the lobbying and publicity efforts by residents have at last paid off, and we're calling for the scheme to be implemented as soon as possible.'// - Dave Morris, Secretary of the Haringey Federation of Residents Associations

The Richmond Scheme: The Waltham Forest Scheme: //**http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/index/transport/road-highway/public-conveniences/community-toilet-scheme.htm//**//
 * //http://www.richmond.gov.uk/press_office/business_pride/community_toilet_scheme.htm//////**

**Nip in for a quick one at the Crossed Legs**
- pubs and cafes open their doors as Victorian public toilets close down

David Smith Sunday November 4, 2007 The Observer

You walk in tentatively, hasten past the barman and emerge a few minutes later hoping he didn't twig, but his grimace tells you that he did. Caught sneaking into the pub toilet, you feel shamed into buying a drink after all.

The strange social ritual of spending a penny - or, rather, spending nothing - on someone else's premises could be in for a dramatic reversal. Government officials will this week hear evidence that Britain's dearth of public loos could be relieved if cafes, pubs and shops actively invite the public to use their conveniences with no pressure to buy anything.

Local councillors will present evidence to the annual conference of the British Toilet Association (BTA) showing that a pioneering community scheme in which businesses are paid £600 a year to open their toilets to non-customers has been a big success. Volunteer members in Richmond, south-west London, display a 'Community Toilet Scheme' sticker in their windows and publicise their locations with street signs, noticeboards and maps.

The scheme, endorsed by the government, has been taken up by other councils against a backdrop of decline in Britain's once admirable public lavatories. Beautifully tiled and slotted below or beside popular locations, they were architectural gems of the Victorian era, but in the past 10 years the number in England and Wales has halved to around 5,000, some of which are filthy or vandalised. According to Richard Chisnell, director of the BTA, the city of Liverpool has nothing but two automatic toilets, despite its status as European City of Culture next year.

'It's become increasingly difficult in recent years to have a proper toileting experience, clean and hygienic, even if you find a toilet,' Chisnell said. 'The emphasis is shifting towards public access to toilets which already exist in most towns and cities. We have to persuade businesses to allow the public to use them, and local authorities to provide financial assistance with cleaning. If we can encourage providers to open their toilets and allow public use, let's be open about it.'

A parliamentary steering group led by Baroness Andrews is set to publish strategic guidance on public toilet provision by the end of this month, although enforcing a legal requirement has been ruled out. Instead local authorities could each potentially decide to phase out public toilets and replace them with community schemes which are cheaper, cleaner, safer and more likely to offer baby changing and disabled toilet facilities.

The case will be made at the BTA conference on Thursday by Martin Elengorn, cabinet member for environment at Richmond Council. 'We had the same problem as everyone else: toilets vandalised, misused, locked quite early and difficult to maintain,' he said.

'We now have 70 members, fairly evenly distributed and covering most of the borough. Cafes open early and pubs open late, and people feel safer in them than in public toilets or the automatic ones which everyone hates.'

Participants in Richmond include Marks & Spencer in Kew, Waitrose and KFC in Twickenham, the White Hart Hotel in Hampton Wick and dozens of pubs. The businesses are paid £600 annually from the budget that was previously spent on maintaining public toilets. There are now only five left in the borough.

Several other councils are now running community toilet schemes and interest is growing. But Chisnell said that scrapping public loos altogether would be 'an admission of defeat'.

He will instead call for flagship 'visitor welcome centres' to be set up in managed buildings in towns across the country.

The BTA conference, at the National Motor Cycle Museum, will also hear an address entitled, 'Keeping the Toilet Wheels Turning', by an official from Southeastern Trains, and an update on the campaign for better school toilets by the organiser of the Bog Standard Campaign.


 * Bog standards**


 * 2,500** The average number of times a person goes to the toilet each year


 * 30,000** The number of climbers reaching the summit of Mont Blanc each year - prompting the French authorities to install public toilets at the top


 * 41** The number of toilet seats at the EU Parliament building in Brussels, tested by a TV station, that showed traces of cocaine in 2005


 * £17, 850** The cost of a pop-up urinal


 * 30 per cent** The proportion of people in the world who use toilet paper


 * 1824** The year the first public toilet was constructed in Paris

**Submission to the Greater London Authority re: Consultation Over Public Toilet Provision**
//[By a Haringey resident involved in a Tottenham residents association]//

06 Mar 2006

I am concerned about the lack of public toilet provision and the effect this has on many people's ability to be able to leave their homes and enjoy facilities in their area and around London.

I think that the lack of toilet provision in public places, especially parks, discriminates against women, and also elderly and disabled people and people with children. The failure of local authorities to address these issues when closing toilets down or deciding on toilet provision could be viewed as institutional sexism and ageism.

Whilst men can easily nip behind a tree to relieve themselves if caught short whilst out, women cannot realistically do this, therefore toilet provision influences their decisions about where to visit and how long to stay, and acts as a barrier to them visiting or staying in some places such as parks.

In our local parks group in Tottenham we carried out a survey of park users and toilet provision was the number one item that people wanted. Residents talked about elderly relatives who used to enjoy visiting the park but could no longer do so because there were no public toilets. Women and people with children said that the lack of public toilets in the park meant they could not stay in the park as long as they would otherwise like to have done. And there have also been problems of people defecating in parts of the park because there are no toilets available, thus creating a health hazard. I have heard that similar surveys in other parks in Haringey have expressed similar views.

In Haringey nearly all the public toilets that existed 10 or 15 years ago have been closed down. The only place where they seem to be required is in shopping centres. This seems to be driven by the strange idea that if something is not bringing in money then it has no value. Despite the fact that residents pay council and other taxes which are meant to go to providing services for the population, vital services such as toilets are viewed as expendable.

I attended an area assembly where I live in Tottenham last year, where public toilets had been publicised as one of the issues to be discussed. A number of elderly residents attended who talked about how the lack of public toilet provision restricted their ability to go out, leading to greater isolation. Other residents talked about a similar effect for people with illnesses affecting their bladder or bowel control. And parents referred to difficulties they faced when taking children out.

There need to be free public toilets in every park, close to every tube / bus station and at major road intersections in other areas. Toilets need to be free because not everyone has (the right) cash on them, particularly when they go to parks, and because going to the toilet is a basic human need. The toilets should be staffed on a regular basis throughout every day (not necessarily around the clock, pairs of attendants could be responsible for more than one toilet block), so they are kept clean and inviting. Public toilets should be considered essential services and this should be paid for from existing council taxes (perhaps from a reduced public relations budget) and business rates, or if necessary funding from central govt.

In terms of the buildings provided, too many toilet buildings are dingy and off-putting. They should be designed to be light, well ventilated and attractive as well as easy to clean and maintain. Perhaps designing re-inforced translucent glass roofs would make them less dingy. I once visited some fantastic public toilets in Kawa Kawa, New Zealand, designed by the artist/ architect Hundertwasser. I expect it would be too expensive to have these as a standard design but there's no reason toilet buildings have to be so grim and unappealing. For example upper parts of walls could be decorated with mosaic tile designs as a project by local schools or community groups. Attractive buildings would encourage more people to use the toilets, making them safer for everyone and less likely to attract vandalism.

Cubicle sizes need to be designed to a decent size in consideration of the fact that people are going to be inside the cubicles when the door is being shut. Very many cubicles in (women's) public toilets are ridiculously small. It is virtually impossible to get into the cubicle and shut the door without flattening yourself against the cubicle wall. This is frequently the case even when the area in front of the cubicles is of a reasonable size, so the cubicles could easily have been made larger. I presume the problem is even greater for anyone with a slightly larger than average build or reduced mobility


 * Another way to increase toilet provision might be to pass bye-laws to require all buildings open to the public, e.g. pubs, cafes, halls, cinemas, surgeries, offices, etc, to allow their toilets to be used by members of the public.**

Free public toilets are not a luxury, they are a vital necessity in every neighbourhood. We've all got to go to the toilet.