Memorandum by Bristol Older People's Forum
and Bristol Women's Forum
Some time ago the Government issued an edict
that all public toilets should be made "disabled friendly".
In Bristol the then (Labour) administration decided that it would
cost too much to up-date many of the premises, therefore it was
determined to close down those that fell into this category. In
some instances they were sold to private individuals who now use
them for other purposes.
As a Forum we raised the matter regularly with
the following Lib Dem administration and latterly the Labour one.
The Bristol Women's Forum has also been campaigning for improved
toilet provision, and has asked to be associated with this letter.
We started out by telling them that it was not
until one gets older that the necessity for the provision of good
facilities becomes apparent! We have anecdotal evidence of elderly
people being reluctant to leave home without knowledge of where
they will be able to use a toilet. We added to this that mothers
with children would also appreciate these facilities.
Not getting very far with these arguments we
added the suggestion that tourists and people from outside the
City (shoppers etc) would have a better impression of the City
if such facilities were provided.
One of the suggestions from the Council was
that they could encourage the owners of some suitable premises
to make facilities available to members of the public. We thought
that this would be a good idea, particularly as the Council itself
owned many "suitable" premises around the City, (Libraries,
Offices, etc) and stated that we looked forward to signs stating
"Public Toilets" appearing outside these buildings.
The Council's enthusiasm seemed to wane at this point. We have
expressed our concern for postmen, bus crews and others working
outdoors. When we were young there were toilets in many of our
local parks, watched over by the park-keeper. These are now no
longer employed and the toilets have been closed due to the ensuing
vandalism.
Constantly we are told that there is no statutory
requirement for Councils to provide public toilets. We argue that
this may be so, but it doesn't prevent the Council from providing
them and improving the quality of life for its residents and visitors.
Regarding financing, in an ideal world the Council
would provide these facilities, as it use to when we were young,
and in some cases staffed. However, time has moved on, and although
councils seem to find money for their pet projects we doubt that
they would provide free toilets. We note that bus and rail stations
charge 20p for use of their facilities, and councils should do
the same.
Regarding security, if staffing is not possible,
we are in the age of CCTV and feel that, properly maintained,
such systems could be used to discourage vandals and other undesirable
elements.
We would like to see a Government directive
to ensure that local authorities are required to provide these
basic facilities which would enable people to go out without the
worry of where to "go".
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