On Tuesday this week, World Toilet Day was celebrated across the world – laugh if you want, but it’s a long-established event led by the United Nations to raise standards in sanitation across the globe – plug #WorldToiletDay into your favourite social platform and see for yourself.
It's not just developing economies that needs to raise standards in sanitation – London has a serious problem providing public toilets to residents, workers and visitors. Fortunately, this has been gaining attention over the last year, and those involved in efforts to improve London’s loos gathered in Soho on Tuesday to launch the London Loo Alliance.
The LLA issued the following statements:
“The London Loo Alliance is a coalition of charities, trade unions, civic societies, resident and community associations, researchers and equality campaigners joining together to demand more and better public toilets in London. Insufficient and poor-quality public toilet provision impacts all Londoners but disproportionately affects older and disabled people, those with health conditions, pregnant women, itinerant workers, such as delivery and taxi drivers, as well as families with young children”
“Public toilet provision is a matter of public health, inclusion for all members of society, the right to a dignified work environment and more. Poor provision means many Londoners are not free to access London's public spaces because of fears about the lack of decent toilets. To be the inclusive and welcoming city we want to see, urgent action to improve provision is necessary. The Alliance calls on regional government, local government, businesses, transport operators and others to engage, communicate and play their part”
“Good quality public toilet provision can improve people's lives. It can also have significant benefits for the economy.
Good provision is not only about the quantity of public toilets, but also about improving the availability of toilets that are accessible to everyone, that they are clean and well maintained with people at the heart of their design. Public toilets should be available for people to use in the evenings and at night, and public information about the location of toilets needs to be of a high standard and accessible to all.”
The day began with the publication of “Caught Short: a public toilet strategy for Soho” produced by the Soho Neighbourhood Forum. This report, supported by Westminster Council’s Neighbourhood CIL fund, showed that Soho had seen a reduction of 70% in the number of public toilet cubicles and urinals in the past 15 years. It also stated that 77% of businesses and 64% of visitors had personally witnessed people urinating in Soho’s streets.
In its comprehensive research, the neighbourhood forum’s report found that 27% of visitors would avoid going to the West End because of the lack of public toilets, and 80% of the 151 Soho businesses that responded to its survey said this was damaging the area’s reputation. The forum chair said the shortage of public toilets meant “effectively telling millions of people that they shouldn’t visit for fear of not being able to find a loo in time”.
Further, it estimated that if the public toilet issue was resolved it could be worth an additional £4.9m a year in revenue for the area.
As a result, Westminster Council has responded by announcing a £12.7 million investment in public toilets. The first project to open will be the toilets on Victoria Embankment, with artwork incorporating ‘lines of energy’ echoing Bazelgette’s complex feat of engineering alongside an Embankment ‘guardian’ sphinx, designed by George John Vulliamy, the ‘superintending architect’ to the Metropolitan Board of Works.
This is what can happen when community groups, local authorities, businesses and developers (via CIL) collaborate - this Westminster coalition has generated trust and momentum by challenging restrictive taboos and engaging local residents and businesses. Not only has this contributed to public health, but has embedded art into the local public realm and buoyed local businesses.
Later in the day, the London Society held a forum to discuss how to make public toilets more available and accessible to Londoners. A panel of activists and experts representing the built environment, health and wellness organisations and inclusion programmes shared their approaches with a lively audience.
I’ve believed for some time that public toilets are the low hanging fruit of public health and healthy placemaking. At a time when both the planning system and health service are described as “in crisis”, they present an opportunity to build local coalitions of interests which can improve their built environment, their health and health equity within their communities, establishing a platform to take on more and bigger projects going forward.
Wishing you, albeit belatedly, a happy World Toilet Day.
Clare Delmar
Listen to Locals
21 November 2024
