Boris calls on London businesses to open their toilets to the public

12/08/2008

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson is calling on businesses across London to open their toilets to the public to help ease the problems caused by the lack of public lavatories.

 

The Mayor wants every London borough to sign up to the Community Toilet Scheme, which provides businesses with small grants to open their toilet facilities to the public. The scheme is already running successfully in several boroughs.

 

Boris Johnson said: “The Community Toilet Scheme is a common sense and cost effective solution to the lack of public toilets in London.  It is also an ingenious way around the high costs normally associated with running them.

 

“Older people and families with young children in particular find the lack of publics loos inconvenient and an incredible burden when out and about. I am supportive of small measures that make a big difference to quality of life in London. Everyone should be able to go out and enjoy this great city without worrying about the location of the nearest accessible public toilet.

 

“In the longer term however I want the Government to face up to it’s responsibilities and provide Londoners with the greater public amenities they deserve by changing current legislation and providing local authorities with more funding for essential services.”

 

Since 1999 London has experienced the highest decline in the number of local authority owned and run public toilets in the country with the lack of facilities a particular problem for older Londoners, those with disabilities and families with young children.

 

Pamela Holmes, Head of Healthy Ageing at Help the Aged also supports the Mayor’s call on councils to provide more public toilets. She said:  “Toilet humour might be funny – but not being able to go out due to a lack of public toilets is a daily reality for more than half of older people.  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. 

 

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.”

 

YOU RESPOND

 

Good for Boris, finger straight on to it. Bet he has spent some time in the USA, we did last year, visiting our son in Houston, for starters, they are not toilets there, more discreetly named “rest rooms” all major stores have them, one on every floor as well, no need to ask where they are, notices abound as to directions. As an elderly person it was a pleasure to shop at leisure without that kind of problem sitting on our shoulders.   

 

We live in a seaside resort called Bridlington, almost loo-less, makes you have second thoughts of going into the town, and on top of that, in any holiday season it costs 15p to go to one, could be an expensive day out on a bad day, so we, like thousands of other like minded people deny the town shops of our patronage and shop at the out of town centers who do provide facilities. Try telling the council why the town shops are closing down, they, like the present government do not listen “though like Mr Brown, they say they do.

 

My, that’s done me good, sorry, I do not know the e-mail address of Boris or Gordon Brown or they would both hear of my remarks, I keep e-mailing my MP, who does me the honour of replying, BUT ...

 

Really enjoy the contents of your paper, long may you continue.  

 

Dennis Lee