Memorandum by The Chartered Institution
of Wastes Management
The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management
(CIWM) is the professional body which represents around 7,300
waste management professionals, predominantly in the UK but also
overseas. The CIWM sets the professional standards for individuals
working in the waste management industry and has various grades
of membership determined by education, qualification and experience.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management
(CIWM) welcomes this opportunity to present evidence for an important
examination of the Provision of Public Toilets. The majority of
public toilets in the UK are provided by cleansing or waste management
section of Local authorities. They are responsible for the provision,
maintenance and cleansing of public toilets therefore the responsibility
of a number of our CIWM members. In preparing this evidence the
Institution has consulted with expert members in this sector of
the industry, which include Raymond Martine and Steve Robinson,
as well as other organisations and individuals.
CIWM would be pleased to provide any further
evidence, either written or verbal that the committee might require.
QUESTION 1: THE
NEED
We all use the lavatory several times each day
as we go about our normal lives.
The need exists, whether we are at work or play,
shopping, school or college, on holiday, visiting new places,
travelling over distance or perhaps just out walking for exercise.
The majority of society still prefers to use
an enclosed lavatory with flushing water and we all understand
the increasing need to stop the spread of disease, for example
MRSA or C-diff, by washing and drying our hands directly afterwards.
Street urination does unfortunately exist in our society today
and it can be linked directly to the lack of serviceable public
facilities. The provision and hygiene of public toilet facilities
needs to be monitored and managed by competent individuals.
There can be no doubt whatsoever about the overwhelming
need for public toilet facilities with the town and cities across
our country. Below are some of the most important issues that
we believe should be addressed by those charged with the responsibility
of provision of toilets.
Normal/Reasonable Provision for men/women (anyone)
needing a toilet visit during the normal day—and also in
the evening when we take our leisure time. Unfortunately the ratio
of Male to Female provision is not proportionate and needs adjustment.
Families and small children—the safety
and health of our families and children must be paramount in our
minds when it comes to providing these facilities. Children who
need to visit these facilities could get seriously hurt or killed
if we do not stop all the anti social behaviour that is occurring
in these places.
The Elderly have a growing need for public toilets
as the distance and time between visits varies so greatly and
the urgency of need can be extremely awkward and embarrassing
for our senior citizens.
Health issues and the Health of the Nation is
of significant importance when it comes to public toilet provision.
Many of our residents suffer from a range of conditions that may
require them to visit the toilet several times a hour/day.
Accessibility Understanding the scope and range
of disabilities that exist today and making a respectable provision
to allow residents with any form of disability to have full mobility
into our society.
Disability issues
There are people within the community who suffer
from medical conditions and certain other disabilities, which
increases their need for toilet usage when away from home.
Examples include sufferers from Chrons disease
and certain other diseases including continency conditions
Local residents and day visitors have always
been a major boost to the economic lives of our towns and cities.
More and more residents appear to prefer taking short break holidays
within the UK. Whilst "away from home" we all rely greatly
on the public toilet facilities provided by the local authority
or a private landowner.
Shopping with many towns and cities becoming
pedestrian zones and with governments green agenda to cut car
emissions—people have to spend considerably longer periods
on buses / trains and subsequently in town/city centres. They
will proportionally need to use the toilet more whilst on these
visits and if we don't have acceptable facilities available they
will not use the town centres to shop—a major economic impact
to regeneration.
Going to the Toilet is still a basic Human Need
a basic Human Right.
QUESTION 2: WHY
PROVISION HAS
DECLINED
Most indicators within the industry point to
a decline because of the lack of legislation management and funding
for this provision.
The provision of Public Toilets is a non- statutory
service for Local authorities, and with competing demands for
finance, many local authorities simply chose to spend money on
what they consider "essential" services- ie statutory
services.
As Public toilets are thus pushed further down
the political agenda, the management of them in many cases is
reduced or in some cases almost totally ignored. In these circumstances
it is not surprising that many public toilets have become the
haunts of anti-social behaviour.
The lack of funding has also meant a serious
decline in the standards of hygiene and cleanliness experienced
in these toilets. In many locations where access is available—the
levels of cleanliness and hygiene are extremely low. No soap,
No drying, No hot water to wash with, Urinals blocked and smelling,
Toilets dirty and in many cases out of service, offensive graffiti
on walls and doors and many units have very slippy floor areas
that could cause injury.
Operators of modern shopping centres and stores
understand the economic significance of toilets—these businesses
put additional efforts into providing, good quality facilities
for their customers. If customers are happy and satiated they
will remain in that location—subsequently spending additional
monies at that location. Local authorities need to understand
as part of their dual roles of economic development and town planning
how the availability and standard of toilet provision affects
shopping habits of consumers.
The importance of adequate high standard of
public toilets and their contribution to good Public Health should
not be underestimated. Local authority Environmental Health departments
together with local health authorities should work together to
promote the benefits of such facilities as a means of preventing
the transmission or development of a range of diseases and conditions.
Disability Discrimination
The Disability Discrimination Acts require local
authorities (amongst others) to adapt public toilets to meet the
accessibility needs of disabled users.
Many authorities have used this requirement
as a mechanism to close toilets altogether arguing that provision
of an updated facility is likely to be prohibitively expensive
and therefore no other option exists. The effect of this "double
whammy" is to remove a needed facility form the general populous
as a whole, but more significantly to remove a facility (which
in some cases disabled users used with difficulty) from the disabled
members of the community. In other words—provision is worst
than before the DDA legislation was passed!
QUESTION 3: WHO
PAYS
The era of "free" toilets is fast
coming to an end!
The main reasons for this thinking is:
Cost of refurbishment or replacement.
Cost of repair and maintenance.
In many cities around the UK residents and visitors
have readily accepted the introduction of pay toilets—providing
the facilities are maintained to an acceptable standard.
These units can be automatic or partial/full
time staffed and the revenue generated is used to facilitate this
type of unit.
The introduction of turnstiles or paddle entry
tends to keep out the anti-social element and averts indiscriminate
loitering in these premises. The incident rate is greatly reduced
and almost eradicated in all these facilities where staff is present
during opening hours.
Working studies show that most members of the
public, when asked, were happy to pay for a clean fully serviced
toilet facility in the knowledge that they would find a range
of facilities and feel in a secure environment. A charge of 10p
or 20p is an acceptable admission fee in most current operations.
QUESTION 4: OPENING
HOURS
This question can only be answered through localised
agreement. Hours are extremely dependant on location, local events,
seasonal expectations, travel distances, traffic flows and necessity.
Automated units are obviously 24 hour—subject
to seasonal opening times.
Staffed units are subject to local businesses
hours and events occurring. The needs of users late into the evening
and night must be considered.
The Governments enthusiasm for a "24hr
economy" reflecting more closely the lifestyle of other European
countries means that far more people are out and about late into
the night when compared with a few years ago. Clearly these people
will have needs for access to toilet facilities. The alternative
remains urination and fouling of streets and public places. As
Disabled persons form part of the community as a whole, the particular
needs of the disabled for out of hours toilet provision must not
be overlooked.
QUESTION 5: SECURITY
The rise in anti-social behaviour, involving
toilets, can be linked directly to the lack of supervision and
the remoteness of the site. Often these toilet facilities in remote
locations are opened at 7:00am—quickly cleaned (but not
monitored for effectiveness) and then left all day unsupervised.
An operative may return after 4.00pm and lock the toilets without
any further check on standards and condition.
Damage caused or observed may/may not be reported
for some time. Will the replacement part get ordered?—perhaps
not until a quantity of that particular part is required—so
the toilet/toilets might be out of service for some considerable
time resulting in loss of amenity.
Unmanned toilets may begin to suffer from minor
vandalism.If this goes unchecked or restrained, as is likely the
case in unmanned premises, continuing decline is likely. It is
not difficult to see how this can escalate into incidences of
major damage; this spiral of decline is witnessed all over the
UK.
A unit that was staffed would not be allowed
to fall into disrepair—items broken are typically ordered
the same day and replaced within 3 x working days. Vandalism is
deterred because of their presence and rubbish & debris is
not allowed to build up. The unit is cleaned and maintained regularly
across the day and it becomes an asset in the area.
Residents, visitors, children young mothers
with babies all feel considerably safer entering and using these
types of facilities because staff is on hand. Surveys conducted
have shown positively that a majority of users are willing to
pay a small amount, as indicated, to have this type of facility
available.
QUESTION 6: THE
GENDER BALANCE
Surveys by the British Toilet Association and
the Toilet Association of Ireland reveal that the ratio of male
to female toilet facilities is disproportionate.
Studies show that in main shopping areas female
visitors out number males by almost 3 to1 and yet provision is
at best on a 50-50 basis. Evidence of this can be clearly seen
in shopping centres where queues outside the female toilets are
a regular sight. During seasonal high traffic periods such as
Christmas it is almost impossible to get to into the female facilities
and even harder to find a clean unit.
The British Toilet Association and Toilet Association
of Ireland recommendations are for 1 x toilet: 1100 Males and
for 1 x toilet: 500 Females—approximately twice as many
toilets for females. In many European countries the provision
of individual cubicles has addressed this issue making all toilets
fit for all users.
QUESTION 7: PROVISION
BEYOND LOCAL
AUTHORITIES
The Local Authorities are historically the main
providers of Public Toilet facilities. Local councils are best
positioned to deliver local services and are well equipped to
deliver the essential requirements of regular maintenance, regular
supervision and regular and thorough cleansing.
A growing number of Private contractors have
been delivering toilet services to the public for many years now.
Companies like Danfo, Interpublic and Healthmatic are experts
at installing, servicing and maintaining these types of facilities
and they work closely with the BTA & TAI to help drive the
campaign.
Some private companies offer services to provide
facilities for local authorities including provision of facility,
maintenance and cleaning or a mixture of these services
Examples include the following:
"Danfo"—Blackpool Borough Council
922 toilets).
"Interpublic"-West Wiltshire DC (9
toilets).
"Healthmatic"—Belfast City Council
(6 toilets).
The operation of Community toilet schemes is
not anew idea. Most recently the success of the scheme operated
by the London Borough of Richmond has received media attention
but similar schemes have operated successfully elsewhere for some
time. Providing that management and control issues can be properly
addressed there is no reason to believe that community toilet
schemes cannot be a worthwhile addition to local facilities.
As an adjunct to the main provision by local
authorities these schemes provide a useful and valued service.
It is important, however, that local authorities do not see such
schemes as a way of relinquishing their own responsibilities in
meeting the needs of their communities.
QUESTION 8: TOURISM
The UK & Ireland relies heavily on the Millions
of overseas visitors and Tourists to thousands of heritage sites
and points of local interest. Yet we do not readily accept our
responsibility as a nation to provide decent Public Access Toilets
for this transient population. We fail to offer them basic human
comfort and a place to freshen up after a long arduous journey.
A recent Omnibus survey carried out by the
Tourist Board asked visitors their Best and worst experiences
whilst visiting this country. 82% of responses said that the WORST
experience they had when visiting this country was—the state
of our Public Toilets. In all cases they cited:
Lack of provision of facilities.
Lack of proper washing and drying Facilities.
In summary there feelings could be best expresses
as lovely places, lovely people, lovely food and accommodation—lousy
Toilets!
As the UK prepares to host the 2012 Olympics
the thought of this country inviting millions of overseas visitors
to come and stay for several weeks in our towns and cities, walk
our rivers and canals, play in our parks and gardens, visit our
heritage sites and places of interest—with the uncertainty
of being able to access decent Public Toilet facilities is both
unthinkable and unacceptable.
Consideration of providing a range of temporary
portable toilets at series of localised sites should be resisted.
What is needed is an infrastructure that provides for toilet facilities
that are of benefit to the wider community in the continuum.
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