The need for improved access to toilets in London

Good provision of public toilets is an important part of public health provision and making our towns and cities more inclusive and welcoming. Access to them is vital for allowing the older people, people living with long-term health conditions, workers and many others to live a high quality of life.  

However, in the last ten years councils in London have closed many more toilets than they have opened, leaving only a few hundred public toilets in the city to meet the needs of more than eight million people. 

In a recent survey Age UK London found that 81% of older Londoners believes that provision of public toilets in the borough that they lived in was bad, with over half of respondents sometimes reducing the amount they drink to reduce the likelihood of needing to find a toilet. 

Sadly, reversing the long-term decline of public toilets has been challenging, with stretched boroughs lacking the resource and bandwidth to create cross departmental strategies to coordinate public toilet provision.  

To improve the provision of public toilets, WA Health has been proud to support Age UK London to build on their ‘London Loos’ campaign. 

To do this, WA and Age UK London convened a roundtable attended by fifteen leading health charities, unions, councillors, special interest groups and others. The session was chaired by London Assembly Member Caroline Russell.  

The session provided an opportunity to: 

• Understand different organisation’s priorities on access to toilets 

• Debate the policy changes needed to improve access 

• Share the policy levers available  

• Agree how best to work together to impact change 

The meeting was the important first step in creating a cross-sector coalition laser-focused on the importance of access to toilets in London for everyone. The new coalition, when formed, will create a manifesto for the public provision of toilets, supporting decision makers with insight on the problem and solutions they can implement, locally and across London. 

John McGeachy, Campaigns Manager at Age UK London said: 

“Age UK London has had the pleasure of working with the team at WA Communications to set up this initial meeting with an important and wide-ranging group of stakeholders, all agreed on the vital need for more publicly accessible toilets in London. This meeting allowed us to create a strong community that can build on Age UK London’s three year’s of campaigning on this issue, expanding the reach of a clear message on how policymakers can implement change which benefits access to toilets.”

To be involved in campaigning on access to toilets in London, get in touch with Age UK London via John McGeachy at jmcgeachy@ageuklondon.org.uk. For information on how WA Health can support your organisation to build cross-sector consensus get in touch with Lloyd Tingley at lloydtingley@wacomms.co.uk.