British Toilet Association: Archived News from the British Toilet Association 

CLG Select Committee Reports

Local Authorities should no longer carry on at their own convenience when it comes to the provision of public toilets.

In The Provision of Public Toilets – a report published today – the Community and Local Government Select Committee is calling for all Local Authorities to reverse a decline in the number of public toilets, estimated at 40% in the past 8 years.

The Committee recommends that Local Authorities develop a public toilet strategy for their area, in consultation with the local community, to ensure that more toilets are available to the public. Although many of the BTA’s Local Authority members provide clean, hygienic and safe toilets many have failed to provide adequate facilities and have closed public toilets leaving the public with ‘nowhere to go’.

Chair of the Committee Dr. Phyllis Starkey MP said:

Our over-riding recommendation is that the Government imposes a duty on Local Authorities to develop a public toilet strategy, which should involve consultation with the local community.  This will go a long way towards achieving the right of people who live in and visit this country to have accessible and clean public toilets, wherever they live, work or visit.

The British Toilet Association has been campaigning for better ‘away from home toilets’ throughout the UK since 1999 and contributed to the Government’s Strategic Guide –
Improving Public Access to Better Quality Toilets published on 6th March 2008. It also gave written and oral evidence to the DCLG Select Committee which published this report today.

Although falling short of the BTA’s demands for the Government to place an obligation on Local Authorities to provide adequate public toilet facilities (the Public Health Act 1936 gives Local Authorities the power to provide public toilets, but imposes no duty to do so) this report offers hope to all who need to use public toilets in England - males and females, families with babies and young children and those with physical or mental disabilities that need accessible toilets with all of the facilities that they require..  

The report also recommends that Local Authorities use their many existing powers to ensure that more public toilets are available, either by using planning, licensing and leasing powers, by running public toilets themselves, or by paying local businesses, such as shops, cafes and pubs, to provide public access to their toilets (Partnership Toilet Schemes). It wants local authorities to aim to provide a ratio of 2:1 public toilet provision in favour of women to address the current lack of female facilities. Other recommendations include standard public toilet signage across the country, better information about public toilets and their location, and the encouragement of establishments selling food and drink for consumption on the premises to provide toilet facilities for customers.

BTA supports this report and will continue to campaign until the British public, and the increasing numbers of visitors to this country, can enjoy the availability of public toilets when and where they are needed. We understand that Ministers have three months to respond to the report and we look forward to hearing their response.

The Loo of the Year Awards, also mentioned in the report, will continue to recognise the best toilets in the UK. We welcome comments from the public and toilet providers that will reinforce this campaign.

22 October 2008