Designing London’s Recovery

I have a health condition that means I don't really have a choice when I have to go, I have to go! As a general rule I try to use toilets at transport hubs and in pubs and restaurants as public loos can be a bit unpredictable and I have felt unsafe on many occasions. I would be happy to pay for clean, well maintained toilets with attendants in place.

What factors do you consider when deciding whether or not to use a public toilet?

- Is it clean, is it private, does it have toilet paper.

What would you need to see or hear in order for you to feel comfortable using a public toilet?

- I have a health condition that means I may need to use the toilet at short notice and have mobility issues. Often accessing the disabled toilet is next to impossible.

I want disabled toilets to be accessible and kept for those who *need* them. I’d like toilets to be in well lit areas. I want them to be clean and have access to toilet paper, soap, and and drying facilities at a minimum. I’d love to have the option to clean the seat myself before use as well. I’d like designers to think more about how people get out of toilets having cleaned their hands without then touching dirty surfaces again. In an ideal world I’d also like a way to report if a toilet needs servicing in some way.

I honestly prefer the automated ones that are cleaned after every use. I carry my own toilet paper so that’s less of an issue and knowing it’s just been cleaned is reassuring.

In many areas around London's boroughs lots of public toilets have been closed down due to financial running cost , some just locked and windows boarded over. In some places there have been replacements but more often than not none. Those that remain are often not well maintained . Time and again you find no toilet paper or the toilet will not flush or the toilet is blocked or the stalls are locked. Some areas like Clapham Junction do not have a public toilet at all. You have to use local supermarkets/fast food outlets or cafes. In a time when we are trying to bring people back to these areas with many closed up shops, providing basic public facilities like toilets is essential.

ps Please don't even consider going the French route where you install standalone toilets, fully automatised. Those torture chambers flush automatically when you first sit down or when you change a tampon. Then they don't flush on demand because they are automatic and you need to trust that as you leave the toilet, they will flush for the next person. They are on pavements, often busy ones and the automatic door opens right onto that pavement so that if it failed, you'd be exposed to all! Overall, an appalling experience. Please always consult women, parents, elderly or mobility impaired people before investing in some new toilet 'toy'!

More free, safe, clean toilets please.

Also PLEASE design for women ie:
- More space so you can enter and leave toilets without contortions
- More space so you don't have parts of your body almost touching the unclean sanitary towel disposal bin.
- Those bins easier to open, always hands-free, and without twisting your body or leg in an unnatural shape.
- A hook on the door (Women have long coats, layers, handbags,...).
- Twice as many toilets for women than for me so we don't queue almost every time we need to go.
- Toilets well designed so that you can tell from where you are in the queue if a toilet is locked or unlocked (without having to push the door to check).
Thank you

The provision of toilets particularly in Palmers Green, Southgate and Edmonton Green is truly appalling, particularly if someone suffers from cronin or IBS.
Compared to European cities we are 3rd rate This is due to a number of factors, cuts to maintenance and upkeep of toilets and anti social/ sexual behaviour in toilets more noticeable in parks. Park toilets are another issue altogether. Sometimes the only option is to go in to a pub. There is no public toilets in Palmers Green. This is disgraceful. Southgate is the same.
What are we expected to do if the supermarket or fastfood eatery is closed ?
Please do something about this national problem. Thank you.

In LB Bromley where I live, there are very few public toilets. There is a Community Toilet scheme but some cafes etc that took part are dropping out of the scheme.

Sadly Council's don't recognise the need of people who regularly and often urgently need to use a toilet. It is all cost cutting over care for the community.

The biggest factor, for me, is whether there actually is a public toilet. Obviously they are quite few and far between. More would be brilliant.
A great example are the excellent new-ish toilets at London Fields. More like that would be incredible.

It is share lack of common decency why those in authority have seen it fit to deprive communities of the basic right of sufficient decent toilets especially when you consider our grow elderly ageing population who are more likely to need the use if a toilet even more frequently. It is an absolute disgrace that any human can treat their fellow humans this way. We are not animals. I mean really, Does these people who have made the decision expect us to go against a tree and do our business like dogs do? They are having a laugh at our expense.

The factors I consider when using a public toilet are, whether or not they are clean enough to be used and whether or not they have adequate supply of toilet paper.

To feel comfortable using a public toilet, both the toilet flush and hand basin water would have to have sensor to avoid touching to flush and touching to turn on tap.

The toilets in Westfields are very good and I like the fact that there are mirrors incase you want to fix your hair or add a little powder to your face.

If I need to go I need to go ! I like public toilets to be clean not smelly and in good condition -

We have one public toilet on Clapham Common and it is VILE. Smelly, dirty and the hand dryer is always "waiting to be fixed." You have to be desperate to use it. I always use a supermarket or pub look instead. Much need for more well maintained public toilets all over London and Clapham.

I really am appauled by the lack of public toilets. It amazes me for example how few public toilets there are on the London Transport Network. Oddly there are no toilets at a major interchange stations like West Ham but there are toilets at a less used station such as Snaresbrook. Society in the past used to be more civilised. There were clean well maintained attendant operated toilets everywhere which were closed due to the usual cut backs. As apparently the country with the 5th biggest economy in the world surely we can afford to re-establish the public toilets that were taken away. With an ageing population it is even more important to cater for older people who need to use the toilet much more frequently. I also think the toilet attendant should be employed by the Council on a proper wage and pension and toilets should not be privatised. It is the mark of a civilised country to have well maintained public toilets.

There always used to be public toilets maintained by local staff who kept them clean and fit for use i.e. Bottom of Burdett Road and Commercial Road in Poplar (Tower Hamlets) back in the 60's but in later years these all seem to have closed. I recently used some on the Isle of Guernsey which were located in St Peter Port main park - these were very clean. I would use a public toilet if I knew full time staff were located there or if they were of the single cubicle type (those standalone round structures) but of desparate would use anything I guess.

I have searched for public toilets in the past and then upon finding them, they are locked and closed down. Not very helpful, particularly in smaller centres with fewer options. Waste elimination is a non-negotiable function and it’s not so much a factor of “deciding” to use a public toilet as doing one’s utmost to even locate one, regardless of how terrifying and/or disgusting it may be. I don’t have the option of easily urinating or defecating in the street, and I don’t wish to as that has serious public health implications. But waste will be coming out whether we wish it to or not, so there needs to be a place to safely eliminate it. Having been to Canada recently, this seems not at all to be a problem there and I struggle to understand why it’s such a problem here when they don’t even necessarily have public toilets run by municipalities. It’s simply accepted that people may need access to a toilet and they are available nearly everywhere when one is out. And no one pays for them because it’s not a luxury to urinate; it’s not the same as deciding to purchase a coffee. The accessibility of toilets is directly related to how much that society values human dignity and public health. Sadly London, and the UK as a whole, has fallen behind in this.

Many closed and no longer available. Suggest statutory minimum provision.