Rushcliffe Borough Council (through one of its all-party scrutiny groups) has decided to add the subject of public toilets to its scrutiny work programme.
At the meeting of the Place Shaping and Community Engagement Group on 28 July, I requested an initial discussion, which is part of the formal procedure of deciding whether something should be investigated. I presented an informal report to the Group, describing how toilet provision had gone down in recent years because of the expense and the difficulties of maintaining toilets, especially dealing with the effects of vandalism. I also explained how the public appreciates well-maintained and accessible toilets and expects the Council to provide them, even though there is no statutory duty to do so.
In the course of this report, I emphasised the need to think more widely about some more possibilities such as:
- partnerships with shops and pubs to make their toilets accessible to the public
- 24-hour vandal-resistant toilets (I was mainly thinking of self-contained automated toilets which sometimes appear in the middle of pavements in town centres)
- toilets which charge an entrance fee
However, I made it clear that I was not in favour of the last two, and I asked the Group to take an interest in partnerships, especially the kind being pioneered by the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames. In Richmond, the council pays each business £600 a year if they agree to make their toilets available to the public under the Community Toilet Scheme, and so far 75 businesses have signed up. Everyone wins!
- The council spends less than on council-owned loos.
- The publican (or other business owner) gets a fee and also the possibility of extra customers.
- The public get more and better toilets and at more times of the day.
- Vandalism is greatly reduced because toilets are situated in premises which are manned.
The scrutiny group agreed to accept this as a work item and to have a full discussion at its 20 October meeting. This may be followed by an officer visit to Richmond to see how their scheme is working.
Please mail me if you have any comments or wishes regarding public toilet provision in Rushcliffe.
