Civic Life, Public Health - why loos are essential to our cities

Last week the BBC reported from Bath that a lack of public toilets in the city has left elderly people in tears and pushed customers away from local businesses. A local tourguide told a meeting of the Bath and North East Somerset Council  that “Aside from 'what's a scotch egg?', the most consistent question I get on a daily basis is 'where are the toilets?'”

This week the BBC reported from North Yorkshire that in Whitby, the town council has been told that public toilets are a drain on its finances and action is needed to ensure their sustainability.

Elsewhere in North Yorkshire, tempers are flaring over new charges for public toilet use in the town of Malton. These charges threaten plans to devolve services to lower tiers of government, says the BBC, which reports

“North Yorkshire Council had agreed to transfer the conveniences in Malton to the town council as part of what it has dubbed ‘double devolution’. However, the deal has been described as a ‘busted flush’ after the town council opted to introduce a 40p charge per use of the Market Place facilities.

The town's mayor has not commented on the issue, but it is understood the argument has meant the transfer deal is in danger of being cancelled”.

What is it about public toilets that make the provision of an essential feature of civic life and public health so difficult and politically charged? Has it always been this way, or are the problems underlying the current situations in Bath, Whitby and Malton more recent? What can be done to improve the lack of public toilet provision in so many cities and local communities?

A new book from the Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art makes a determined attempt to answer these questions. Designing Inclusive Public Toilets: Wee the People is a comprehensive, evidence-led and thoroughly readable review of all things public toilet - puns included.

Its authors, Gail Ramster and Jo-Ann Bichard, have spent decades researching and reporting on the subject, and their account of the sheer complexity underlying the provision of something so essential as public toilets will be a revelation to many. “Public toilets are the petri dish of accessibility where every challenge of the built environment comes together in one facility”, they observe.

I’ve reviewed the book on behalf of the London Society, and you can read my review here. I commend the authors for producing this timely justification to politicians and policymakers that public toilets can and should be available and accessible to all – and for manifesting a call to arms for Wee the People.

Clare Delmar

Listen to Locals

6 August 2025