Make your loos public and we'll pay you a grand, BoJo tells London firms
Businesses in London are being offered grants of up to £1,000 if they allow members of the public to use their toilets.
In an effort to tackle the lack of public conveniences in the capital, mayor Boris Johnson said all companies should sign up to an initiative which rewards business owners between £600 and £1,000 a year for permitting passers-by to spend a penny irrespective of whether they make a purchase.
According to a London Assembly report, since 1999 the city has experienced the highest decline in the number of local authority owned and run public toilets in the country. The problem is particularly acute for older people, those with disabilities and families with young children.
"The Community Toilet Scheme is a common sense and cost effective solution to the lack of public toilets in London," Johnson said. "It is also an ingenious way around the high costs normally associated with running them."
Seven London boroughs are already running the scheme with Richmond in south London the first to set it up. Local councillor Martin Elengorn said since the project was launched in 2005, 75 local pubs, cafes and shops have joined in.
Commenting on Johnson's call for all companies to get involved, Help the Aged's Pamela Jones said although the subject might be amusing, lack of toilets is a real issue for half of London's elderly population.
"With social isolation becoming an increasing and very real problem, it's great that the Mayor is urging councils in the capital to take a lead by making it easier to access toilets," she added. "Help the Aged has called for a change in the law to make it a duty for local authorities to provide more toilets in public places."
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BusinessZONE - 14-Aug-2008
Categories: News
Story read: 2603
Number of comments: 2
Stopgap solution
Emily Coltman, 20 August 2008 @ 10:18 AM
If I'm away from home and need to use the loo then I would always go to a cafe and buy a drink so that I can use their loo, because public loos in the UK are so often in a disgustingly dirty state, with ugly fittings, scratchy or no paper, and smelling foul.
It doesn't have to be like that - the public loos I've been into in America were spotlessly clean and well equipped.
BoJo should be encouraging councils to provide decent, clean public loos. The CTS should only be a short-term measure.
M
The British Toilet Association supports more toilets
Mike Bone, 15 August 2008 @ 09:19 AM
The British Toilet Association (BTA) has been campaigning for better ‘away from home toilets’ since 1999 and believes that public toilets should be available to a town or city’s residents and visitors and provide facilities for all types of users: ladies, gents, children, babies, the aged and those with physical or mental disability. These toilets should be available when the users need them, as many people with medical conditions must use a toilet facility when they need it, and won’t leave home or travel unless they are available.
The BTA believe that provided the Partnership Toilet Schemes are planned, implemented and monitored in a professional way, this additional provision of accessible toilets will extend the level of facilities to all of a town or cities users. We cannot however accept that the implementation of a PTS can replace the existing LA provided public toilets, which should remain as the main public toilet provision, purpose built to meet the needs of all types of users, providing access to all without any real or imaginary barriers.
BTA can provide advice and or management support to Local Authorities on all aspects of a PTS. Contact enquiries@britloos.co.uk
