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Government toilet plans: All cisterns go

Published	6 March 2008

Local councils will today be encouraged to do more to halt the decline of the great British public loo and to adopt pioneering new approaches to boost access to public toilets across the country.

150 years ago public lavatories were seen by councils as key to good public health - as well as a chance to promote leading edge architecture. They became a symbol of civic pride as well as the advances of sanitation. But in recent years there has been a significant fall in both the level of provision and public satisfaction. 

Today's Strategic Guide is our response to that. It is the first of its kind - and it is aimed at encouraging local councils to look at a range of things they can now do to provide better access and better quality toilets across the country.

We think that the state of our public toilets should indeed be a mark of civic and community pride. The Guide will say that being able to use clean and accessible public loos are important to everyone - but it is critically important to particular groups such as disabled or older people and families with young children. And the whole community suffers - not least because poor quality provision in our towns and city centres contributes to anti-social behaviour through 'street fouling' and poor hygiene standards.

Communities Minister Baroness Andrews will encourage councils to consider a range of innovative ideas and actions to boost the availability, and quality of, public toilets. This will include:

• The new 'SatLav' schemes. A new mobile text scheme which sends immediate information on your nearest toilet and opening times. Successfully pioneered in Westminster, for 25p people can find their nearest public toilet on their mobile phone by text with more than 40 council run or leased public conveniences included as well as many high profiles stores.
• Community Toilet Schemes where local shops and businesses open up public access to their toilets and are paid by the council. Prominent signs on the street and in the windows of participating businesses encourage people to use the facilities. Local shops and businesses join voluntarily and stand to benefit from extra trade. This approach can be cheaper for councils than more traditional council-run facilities. Richmond Upon Thames' community toilet scheme now has 70 participating businesses ensuring clean and safe provision, providing a range of facilities from the early morning to late at night.
• Councils levering in more money from developers for public toilet provision through the planning system. Planning gain powers can allow local authorities to fund new toilet provision. For example, in Brent £700,000 was secured for new toilet facilities at six sites as part of planning agreements for the new Wembley stadium.
• Removing an inconsistency in the law which may help councils to raise additional money to enhance toilet provision. People already pay to use loos in train stations and local facilities owned by councils but privately run. Councils will soon be given the discretion to charge for toilets and urinals that they own and run. This will be their decision and the guide stresses that councils should consult local people about how to promote public access to toilets, and if they take a decision to introduce charging it should be fair and reasonable. Research actually suggests that many people are happy to pay in return for having access to better quality provision.
• Planning more strategically to provide more and better loos. Councils should be using their strategic and spatial plans to ensure a better mix of provision by adopting a range of approaches to meet needs at different times of the day, improving poor quality facilities that have become a magnet for crime and bring down the reputation of parks and neighbourhoods.

The Guide makes clear that public conveniences owned and run by local councils should remain at the heart of provision. By using existing and new powers, councils can rethink their whole approach to public toilet access and ensuring good quality provision. At the same time it will highlight the potential of freeing up greater access to existing provision in local shops and businesses through community toilet schemes.

Communities Minister Baroness Andrews said:

"Some people may find the whole idea of a strategic guide on public toilets funny. But let's remember that there are serious issues too, issues that make public access to toilets a matter of vital importance to many people.

"For older people, disabled people, and families with young children poor access to public toilets can make it difficult to leave home, and reduce their freedoms and sense of dignity.

"For decades, the provision of good municipal facilities was a matter of considerable civic pride. But for many years we seem to have gone backwards. We need to reverse this decline.

"There are excellent examples out there of innovative councils finding ways to increase access to quality toilets without imposing an additional burden on council tax payers. If others follow their lead and take up this challenge, we would all be better off."

Richard Chisnell of The British Toilet Association welcomed today's publication.

"We are very grateful to the Government for taking up the important issue of public toilet provision. First impressions can be gained in the toilets on arrival and it is these that get taken home by visitors. Expanding and improving the range of toilets available for public use is the right way forward and we welcome the positive changes that this guidance could inspire."

Notes to editors

The Guide will reveal a significant number of public loos have closed over many years, with two-thirds of the public now viewing toilets as of a poor standard.

Recent research has found that most people have encountered a public toilet in an unacceptable condition, and that 84 per cent want more to be provided.

But while many people still associate public toilets with council-run 'WCs', survey evidence suggests that most people are less concerned about who provides and maintains toilets so long as there is greater public access to better quality provision.

Under changes soon to be made to the Public Health Act, councils will have the discretion to charge for the use of public toilets, including urinals. This will enable them to plan afresh for better public toilets, mixing approaches to suit local needs, including building new toilets alongside the other more innovative approaches above.

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