Latest news with #BritishToiletAssociation
Telegraph
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
More public lavatories in town centres under ministers' plans
Public lavatories would become a legal requirement in town centres under plans being considered by ministers. Currently, there is no requirement for local authorities to provide them in town centres. But under new proposals drawn up by the British Toilet Association (BTA) and discussed with Alex Norris, the minister for building safety, fire and local growth, such public lavatories would be made a mandatory requirement. In a meeting in January, Liam Conlon, a Labour MP, said he and the BTA had encouraged Mr Norris to integrate public lavatories into local planning documents. In addition, the BTA also recommended that local governments should ring-fence local taxes to enable more public lavatory provision and that restaurants that did not open lavatories to the public pay more to their local government in the form of higher business rates. The number of public lavatories has dropped by 40 per cent since 2000, according to the BTA, which launched a Legalise Loos campaign earlier this year. Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Conlon, the MP for Beckenham and Penge, said campaigners would like to see 'an increase in the number of public toilets and for public toilets to be considered when planning'. |He added: 'Along with a commitment to building one and a half million new homes, public toilets should be part of those building plans. They're not a luxury, they're a necessity. The department is looking at that and at having good provision of public toilets which are accessible and good to use.' Mr Norris was reportedly receptive to plans to make public lavatories a requirement in new town centres, according to MPs and campaigners present in the meeting. Mr Conlon said: 'He did not make any commitments, but he listened and was very supportive about the impact it was having on people.' Speaking about the meeting, Mr Conlon said: 'We spoke about the impact of public toilets, that it's often older people and disabled people who are affected, along with the need for more public toilets and accessibility.' He added that the minister 'acknowledges the issue, definitely' and that he and the BTA were due to have another meeting with him in the next few months to discuss how they could best take it forward, and whether it was possible to reach an agreement over public lavatories. Mr Norris said in a written question in December that the Government was 'taking action to address the significant challenges councils face, including through the first multi-year funding settlement for local government in 10 years'. A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: 'Local authorities are best placed to understand local priorities, including on the important issue of provision of public toilets, whether they are operated by local councils directly or through community schemes.' Raymond Martin, the managing director of the BTA, urged the Government to invest in the provision of public toilets, saying: 'Now is the time for action. This Government has an opportunity to reverse recent decline and make public toilets legal by making their provision a duty and not a choice. 'By spending a penny now, we can safeguard facilities for the future, benefiting local communities and local economies in the long term.'
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
More public lavatories in town centres under ministers' plans
Public lavatories would become a legal requirement in town centres under plans being considered by ministers. Currently, there is no requirement for local authorities to provide them in town centres. But under new proposals drawn up by the British Toilet Association (BTA) and discussed with Alex Norris, the minister for building safety, fire and local growth, such public lavatories would be made a mandatory a meeting in January, Liam Conlon, a Labour MP, said he and the BTA had encouraged Mr Norris to integrate public lavatories into local planning addition, the BTA also recommended that local governments should ring-fence local taxes to enable more public lavatory provision and that restaurants that did not open lavatories to the public pay more to their local government in the form of higher business number of public lavatories has dropped by 40 per cent since 2000, according to the BTA, which launched a Legalise Loos campaign earlier this year. Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Conlon, the MP for Beckenham and Penge, said campaigners would like to see 'an increase in the number of public toilets and for public toilets to be considered when planning'.|He added: 'Along with a commitment to building one and a half million new homes, public toilets should be part of those building plans. They're not a luxury, they're a necessity. The department is looking at that and at having good provision of public toilets which are accessible and good to use.'Mr Norris was reportedly receptive to plans to make public lavatories a requirement in new town centres, according to MPs and campaigners present in the meeting. Mr Conlon said: 'He did not make any commitments, but he listened and was very supportive about the impact it was having on people.' Speaking about the meeting, Mr Conlon said: 'We spoke about the impact of public toilets, that it's often older people and disabled people who are affected, along with the need for more public toilets and accessibility.' He added that the minister 'acknowledges the issue, definitely' and that he and the BTA were due to have another meeting with him in the next few months to discuss how they could best take it forward, and whether it was possible to reach an agreement over public Norris said in a written question in December that the Government was 'taking action to address the significant challenges councils face, including through the first multi-year funding settlement for local government in 10 years'. A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: 'Local authorities are best placed to understand local priorities, including on the important issue of provision of public toilets, whether they are operated by local councils directly or through community schemes.'Raymond Martin, the managing director of the BTA, urged the Government to invest in the provision of public toilets, saying: 'Now is the time for action. This Government has an opportunity to reverse recent decline and make public toilets legal by making their provision a duty and not a choice.'By spending a penny now, we can safeguard facilities for the future, benefiting local communities and local economies in the long term.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The public toilet crisis leaving disabled people feeling like second-class citizens
Thousands of disabled people have shared their frustrations in trying to find a suitable and open toilet. According to a survey of thousands of disabled people by accessibility review website Euan's Guide, nearly three-quarters of disabled people have struggled to find a working toilet. Respondents shared some of the extreme "obstacles" preventing them using public facilities, with examples including people having sex, locks not working and walls smeared with faeces. Others had been turned into glorified storage rooms for cleaning equipment and clothes, with one loo even being used as a makeshift office. Berit Watkins, a pensioner from south-east London who suffers from bowel problems, tells Yahoo News that she often has no choice when confronted by such issues. "When you're in that much pain, you don't have time to complain," she says. Several respondents cited this as one of the big barriers stopping them from going outside, with 78% sharing that they are not confident about visiting new places because of the lack of accessibility. The number of public toilets has reduced by a staggering 40% since 2000, according to the British Toilet Association (BTA). It says that one in five people restrict their travel due to lack of public toilets, which damages our high street economy - for instance, in Soho, a lack of public loos costs £4.9m every year in lost revenue. The problem disproportionately affects the UK's 16.1 million disabled people. The issue has worsened in the last few years alone, with the number of public toilets falling by 14% just since 2018, according to Liberal Democrat research. Some experts blame council budget cuts, as well as there being no legal obligation in the UK for local authorities to provide public toilets - something the BTA is trying to overturn with its 'Legalise loos' campaign launched earlier this month. The issue worsened during the COVID pandemic, when public toilets were closed to mitigate the spread of the virus, with some remaining permanently closed after restrictions were eased. Disabled people are facing the sharp end of the crisis. As of 2023, there were only 1,324 accessible changing places toilets in the UK, equivalent to just two per 100,000 people. One of those who has struggled to find a decent toilet for years is Berit Watkins. Like 94% of people with bladder or bowel conditions, she worries about leaving her home due to lack of toilet facilities. The retiree, who lives in south east London, said she has even experienced difficulties going to toilet when she has been admitted to hospital. Watkins has some severe disabilities that mean she needs an accessible toilet in close reach. She has severe scoliosis and rectocele, which causes difficulties with predicting her bowel movements. When Berit was admitted to hospital after she experienced severe breathing difficulties, she was reliant on the single accessible toilet in A&E, which was "terrible". "I got really ill from a breathing problem," she told Yahoo News. "The ambulance picked me up late at night, 1am. I was taken to A&E." "First the door wouldn't lock. There was a little gap of about a centimetre, just enough so someone could look in. I didn't and couldn't close it properly, and hoped no one would come in. "Then I opened the toilet lid, and it was full. But what could I do? I had no choice but to go. I went to discard my pad, but the sanitary bin was full. I had to force myself to use the toilet, and "squeeze my pad in, on top of all of the soiled things everyone else had been using. "Then when I went back to sit on the seat, a woman came in who was high on drugs. She sat on the assisted chair a couple of seats away, and then used the toilet. It was like no one cared who used it," she added. Even though she felt really frustrated by the experience, she said she wasn't in a position to alert staff. "I didn't say anything. When you're in that much pain, you don't have time to complain," she added. Another person told Euan's Guide that the lack of access makes them feel 'like a second-class citizen." "People don't see why I might need to use an accessible toilet urgently. Maybe clean it first," they added. Kiki MacDonald, co-founder of Euan's Guide, said the results of the access survey 'paint a frustrating but familiar picture." She said: "Even 30 years after the first equalities legislation was put in place, disabled people are still having to fight for disabled access information and access to everyday places. Whether it's arriving at a 'wheelchair-accessible' restaurant only to find a step and no ramp or being stranded at a train station with no assistance, these experiences are unacceptable. "Accessibility should be a right, not a privilege," she added.
The Guardian
10-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Campaign launched to make public toilets a legal requirement in Britain
It will involve spending more than a penny, but it's a call that is likely to be viewed sympathetically by anyone who has ever been caught short while out and about. A campaign has been launched to make the provision of public toilets a legal requirement for central government and local authorities after a slump in the number of loos in town centres, parks and other locations. The Legalise Loos campaign is the brainchild of the British Toilet Association (BTA), a not-for-profit members' organisation, which estimates that the number of public conveniences has fallen by about 40% since 2000. The national shortage has been blamed in part on cash-strapped councils cutting expenditure on public loos in order to protect services they are obliged by law to provide for local people. Lavatory humour has long been a part of British culture and society, but the BTA reckons this is no laughing matter. It said the slump in the number of toilets was 'impacting both people's wellbeing and the health of our economy'. 'This affects people of all ages, whether travelling, participating in activities outside or visiting family, friends and colleagues,' it said. Trying to assess the seriousness of the problem is complicated by the fact that there is no central database or system for managing information on public loos in the UK – or, arguably, a clear definition of what constitutes one. The BTA, however, said that by piecing various bits of information together, it believed 40% 'is a reasonable estimation for the decrease over the last 25 years'. According to the Audit Commission, there were just over 6,600 public toilets in England in 2000, while the official Valuation Office Agency put the figure at 5,410. In August 2023, the Liberal Democrats published freedom of information data stating that the number of public toilets had fallen by 14% since 2018-19. The BTA believes the number now stands at around 3,300. Local authorities are responsible for the provision for public toilets, but it is an optional provision rather than a mandatory requirement. The BTA quoted 2019 research which claimed the 'loo leash' put as many as one in five people off venturing out of their homes as often as they would like. The organisation said that '14 million people have incontinence issues, 15 million people menstruate, and 16 million people have a disability'. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Rose Marshall, 36, a communications consultant from Chelmsford in Essex, said: 'I'm a runner with Crohn's disease, a heady combination that often means I get an urgent need to go to the loo when jogging around streets and parks. Over the years I've developed a mental map of where I can go should the need arise, and it's alarming how scarce my options are. 'The situation has been getting steadily worse, especially as shops are increasingly making toilets only available for paying customers. This is affecting people up and down the country … Why should we have to pay for what is a basic human right?' The BTA managing director, Raymond Martin, said: 'Now is the time for action. This government has an opportunity to reverse recent decline and make public toilets legal by making their provision a duty and not a choice.'
