Boris Johnson calls on London businesses to open their toilets to the public
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson today, August 12th, called 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.
(Media-Newswire.com) - The Mayor of London Boris Johnson today, August 12th, called 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.
Chairman of London Councils Councillor Merrick Cockell said: “The community toilet scheme is an excellent example of how boroughs can take simple steps to make life that little bit more convenient for their residents. Several boroughs are already running the scheme in their local area, and I’m sure many more will now answer the Mayor’s call and set them up for their communities.”
In Richmond, where the scheme began in 2005, Cllr Martin Elengorn, Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning, said: “We are delighted the Mayor of London has singled out our scheme for praise and recommended other Councils to consider adopting a similar initiative.
“The Community Toilet Scheme is an innovative idea where the Council supports local pubs, cafes and shops with an annual sum in exchange for which they welcome visitors to use their toilets freely and without having to make a purchase. We now have 75 premises signed up all over the borough. Since the scheme was introduced, we now have more toilets, kept clean and safe and open for longer hours than ever before.”
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.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
The Community Toilet Scheme was started by Richmond Council in 2005. You can find out more at http://www.richmond.gov.uk/community_toilet_scheme including a full list of participating businesses. Figures in this release are from a London Assembly report – “An Urgent Need”. The report can be found at http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/health/public-toilets.pdf 'Nowhere to Go', a report from Help the Aged summarises a survey of older people's views on public toilet provision. Help the Aged is the charity fighting to free disadvantaged older people in the UK and overseas from poverty, isolation, neglect and ageism. It campaigns to raise public awareness of the issues affecting older people and to bring about policy change. The Charity delivers a range of services: information and advice, home support and community living, including international development work. These are supported by its paid-for services and fundraising activities - which aim to increase funding in the future to respond to the growing unmet needs of disadvantaged older people. Help the Aged also funds vital research into the health issues and experiences of older people to improve the quality of later life.
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