Cash-strapped councils have closed a fifth of conveniences, leaving some people with no choice but to stay close to home.
Republished courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd, written by Chaminda Jayanetti.
Public toilets are not as convenient as they were. Getting caught short outside home has become an increasingly tricky problem as a result.
The trouble has been caused by austerity-hit councils in the UK who are not legally required to provide toilets for the public and who have cut expenditure on them in order to protect services that they are obliged by law to provide for local people.
The result is a major reduction of Ladies and Gents across the nation. According to Freedom of Information data obtained by local government researcher Jack Shaw and shared with the Observer, the number of public lavatories that local authorities have funded and maintained fell from 3,154 in 2015/16 to 2,556 in 2020/21 – a drop of 19% across the past six years, which comes on top of reductions in previous years.
Public health workers have warned that this loss of public conveniences is now causing major problems for a range of people, including the homeless, disabled, outdoor workers and those whose illnesses dictate frequent toilet use.
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