British Toilet Association: News from the BTA
Matters lavatorial could well eclipse the weather as Britain's number one obsession - and quite rightly too! We may learn to live with bad weather but we're growing increasingly impatient with the poor quality of many of our public toilets, as articles and letters in local papers all over Britain testify.
We'll be placing all press releases about the British Toilet Association campaign for better toilets for all on this website so that you can follow our progress.
Our latest press release can be read below, and you can access earlier releases from our archive.
Praise for toilet Tom!
WELL done to Tom Wye for taking the initiative to go to Richmond to see the community toilet scheme in place.
Hopefully, Tom has saved Worthing and Adur's council tax-payers the £15,000 suggested by officers for a feasibility study to look at introducing a similar scheme in Worthing.
Worthing, as a tourist, seaside town, deserves the capital investment to preserve and improve our public toilets and we call on Worthing Council to make that necessary investment.
But this is not easy in these dire economic times.
The community toilet scheme report pointed out it would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to bring the toilets to a condition both councils can be proud of.
In addition, Worthing Council has a yearly bill for maintenance and cleaning of around £300,000 — highlighted in the recent budget consultation form received by residents.
We expect there are significant savings to be made in the detail.
This should emerge from more transparent accounting as called for by the Department of Communities & Local Government — we look forward to Worthing's publication of the detailed spend.
The amount saved will not be enough.
So we would like to make a suggestion in line with the new "Big Society".
We ask retail and other businesses to help keep our public toilets by making a contribution to the costs — either by sponsoring or, indeed, adoption.
It will be interesting to hear what your readers think.
Alan Rice
Worthing Borough Council Liberal Democrat Group Leader
Town Hall
Worthing Herald 7th September 2010
Further information from:
Mike Bone, British Toilet Association
T: +44 (0) 1403 258779
E: enquiries@britloos.co.uk