Why do public toilets matter?
3. Public toilets matter, for a variety of reasons.
Without them, in many areas local authorities and residents need
to clean up every morning. The National Organisation of Residents'
Association (NORA) is a group that represents English and Welsh
residents' associations and its Chair, Alan Shrank, described
street fouling as "appalling, it is disgusting and if you
are a resident affected by it, it ruins your life if every morning,
certainly four or five days a week, you have to go out and clean
up the mess and it should not happen."[5]
4. A lack of public toilets results in certain
groups feeling anxious about going out. Older people, for example,
do not readily leave their homes without the reassurance that
they will have access to public toilets, which can lead to ill-health,
with consequent burdens on the NHS. Pamela Holmes, Help the Aged's
Head of Healthy Ageing, supported this point:
We have research…about the impact on isolation,
about the impact on older people's health - physical, social and
mental - when they are unable to go out of the house because they
are fearful of not finding a public toilet…. We have got
recent figures on one in 10 older people saying that they often
or frequently are lonely.[6]
5. Help the Aged's paper "Nowhere to Go"
highlights the social cost to older people of the decrease in
public toilets:
Twelve per cent. of older people (1.2 million) feel
trapped in their own home, 13 per cent. of older people (1.26
million) do not go out more than once a week and about 100,000
never go out. Our evidence suggests that lack of public toilets
is a significant contributory factor in the isolation of older
people, and the situation will worsen as toilet provision continues
to decline.[7]
6. Disabled people and their carers also lack
the freedom to leave their homes without the reassurance of adequate
toilet facilities being available. The National Association for
Colitis and Crohn's Disease (NACC) is a national charity offering
support to people who have Colitis or Crohn's Disease—diseases
that can strike at any age. It raises concerns about the lack
of public toilet provision:
Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease, known collectively
as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), affects approximately 1 in
400 people living in the UK…. The sudden and uncontrollable
need to use a toilet is a genuine and recognised symptom of IBD….
Having an 'accident' in public is every patient's worst fear and
can have a devastating effect on their ability to undertake everyday
activities such as going to work, shopping or socialising.[8]
7. The Changing Places Consortium is a group
of organisations—Centre for Accessible Environments, Mencap,
PAMIS, Nottingham City Council, Dumfries and Galloway Council,
Valuing People Support Team and the Scottish Government—working
to support the rights of people with profound and multiple learning
disabilities to access their community. The Consortium argues
that, in the absence of suitable provision such as the Changing
Places toilets, many disabled people are prevented from travelling
into town centres and spending money, which would support the
local economy. Conversely, if suitable facilities are provided,
so that disabled people have a level of provision comparable to
that of other people, then not only are disabled people more able
to go out, but the pressure on their carers and families is greatly
reduced, enabling them to continue their caring role. As Martin
Jackaman, Learning Disabilities Day Services Modernisation Manager
from Nottingham City Council, representing the Changing Places
Consortium, stated in our evidence session: "There are definitely
hidden economic benefits."[9]
(Martin Jackaman was awarded the Guardian Public Servant of the
Year Award in 2007 for his campaigning work on public toilets
for severely disabled people.)[10]
8. Tourists and visitors also rank the availability
of toilets high in their lists of reasons why a location is worth
visiting, a point made by Peter Hampson, Director of the British
Resorts and Destinations Association (BRADA): "If you are
a visitor and there on a temporary basis, provision of toilets
becomes absolutely fundamental…most journeys start and finish
with people going to the loo."[11]
Alan Shrank confirmed this point: "It makes a lot of difference
to the whole attitude that people have as tourists when they come
to a town if they find there are conveniences where they want
them."[12]
9. There are direct benefits to local authorities
providing public toilets, of which tourism is one. As Clara Greed,
Professor of Inclusive Urban Planning at the University of the
West of England, who has researched and written extensively on
the provision of public toilets, states, "It is important
to argue 'the business case' that investment in good toilet provision
has been shown to increase retail turnover, tourist numbers, and
economic growth."[13]
Pamela Holmes supported this view:
You cannot cost it simply on what the loo paper and
bricks might end up costing, you have got to see it as part of
a broader context of a neighbourhood that is supporting and enabling
its members to take part and get out and about.[14]
Support for the Government's Strategic
Guide
10. Concern about the decline in public toilet
provision prompted the Government to produce "Improving Public
Access to Better Quality Toilets - A Strategic Guide". It
was published on 6 March 2008 and provides a Government blueprint
for local public toilet provision. In the guide's foreword, Baroness
Andrews, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Communities and
Local Government (CLG), states:
It seeks, above all, to take the taboo out of toilets,
to stimulate discussion, to achieve better provision, and to promote
a positive shift in attitudes and approaches to the whole issue
of toilet provision and use.[15]
11. The guide also incorporates contributions
from six more central Government Departments: Health; Culture,
Media and Sport; Transport; Children, Schools and Families; Work
and Pensions; and Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
The Government memorandum to our inquiry states: "The positive
endorsements from other departmental Ministers highlight the importance
they attach to good quality public toilets in delivering their
own policies and programmes."[16]
12. The Strategic Guide highlights the existing
powers that local authorities have, which can be used to improve
public access to toilets, but adds that "these powers have
not been utilised to their full potential in all areas."[17]
It does not advocate imposing duties on local authorities to
provide public toilets or even to provide a strategy about the
way in which public toilets will be provided; instead, the guide
encourages local authorities to look anew at existing ways in
which they can increase good quality public toilets. We
welcome and support the Government's Strategic Guide on public
toilet provision, with its strong encouragement for local authorities
to adopt a strategic approach to public toilets, taking into account
the needs of all those who use public spaces, including those
with children, older people, people with disabilities and visitors
to our villages, towns and cities.
13. It appears that the overall
number of public toilets has declined in recent years, but the
lack of reliable data makes it impossible to know for sure. We
recommend that the Government seeks a means of collecting this
data, either through requiring local authorities to provide figures
from their own areas or by charging the Audit Commission with
resuming its collection of accurate information on the provision
of public toilets. We appreciate that there are costs associated
with this data collection exercise, but it is essential for formulating
a public toilet strategy.
1 www.thebathroomdiaries.com Back
2
"Improving Public Access to Better Quality Toilets: A Strategic
Guide", Communities and Local Government (www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/publicaccesstoilets),
Foreword. Back
3
"An Urgent Need: the state of London's public toilets",
the London Assembly Health and Public Services Committee, March
2006. Back
4
Ev 44 Back
5
Q 4 Back
6
Q 3 Back
7
Help the Aged "Nowhere to Go: Public Provision in the UK",
March 2007, p5. Back
8
Ev 84 Back
9
Q 17 Back
10
The Guardian, Wednesday 21 May, 2008 (www.guardian.co.uk). Back
11
Q 40 Back
12
Q 31 Back
13
Clara Greed, "Taking Stock: an Overview of Toilet Provision
and Standards" (paper presented at the World Toilet Conference,
Belfast, September 2005), p 14. Back
14
Q 14 Back
15
CLG, Strategic Guide, Foreword. Back
16
Ev 44 Back
17
CLG, Strategic Guide, p 28. Back
