Campaigners pushing for a return of public toilets in Newcastle have demanded a meeting with council bosses.
Tenants’ union ACORN is battling to have Newcastle City Council reverse its decision to shut down the last of the city’s public conveniences a decade ago. Activists intercepted city councillors heading out of the civic centre on Thursday evening to make their case, demanding that the council commits to meeting ACORN and moves firstly to reopen the disabled toilet in Leazes Park.
Some of Newcastle’s former council-run WCs have been transformed since their closure amid budget cuts in 2012, with the well-known loos in the Bigg Market and High Bridge having become bars. But ACORN has called for new facilities to be made available in busy areas like the city centre and the Quayside, particularly to help the elderly and disabled, with around 500 people having backed a petition calling for “accessible, clean, and safe public toilets for all who need them in all major public spaces”.
After speaking to members of the council’s health scrutiny committee on Thursday, ACORN member Hollie Middleton said: “Everybody we have spoken to has been really supportive of the campaign, especially elderly and disabled people and people with young children. I think it is a pretty popular idea.
“It is just a case now of whether the council has the will to spend some money to make it happen. We know the money is there and speaking to councillors tonight is a good step for us.
“People might claim that the toilets will be used for taking drugs or whatever else, but those things are going to happen anyway. If you close down any public space just because it might get used for some criminal activity then soon you won’t have anything left. At least if you reopened some public toilets then you won’t have people peeing in the streets.”
After the closure of council-run toilets in Newcastle, a ‘use our loos’ scheme was launched encouraging businesses to open up their facilities to non-customers – though ACORN claims that is “inadequate for the diverse needs of people in our city”.
Stefano Congiu, manager of the Tower Cafe in Leazes Park, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it was not practical for the cafe to reopen the disabled toilets but that he would be happy to do so if the council or Urban Green committed to funding and maintaining them. Urban Green is the charity which took control of the city’s parks from the council in 2019.
The charity said: “The toilets inside Leazes Park are managed and maintained by the tenants of Tower Cafe as they form part of the cafe facilities. Urban Green Newcastle has been made aware that the accessible facilities are not currently open to the public and we are working with the tenant to re-open them as soon as possible. Once reopened, the toilets at Leazes Park will be available to use during Tower Cafe's opening hours.
"On behalf of our tenants, we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused. We understand how important it is for people to have access to the toilet facilities within our parks, especially when more of us are spending time outdoors to enjoy the warmer weather.”
The council said it was not alone in shutting down public conveniences but would “always look to open new toilets” when funding is available and maintenance costs are affordable. A spokesperson added: “Like many councils hit by Government budget cuts during austerity, we were forced to shut down our on-street public toilets as we could no longer afford to maintain them.
“As an alternative we supported a campaign which encouraged public access to toilets in shopping centres and other city centre places while promoting our remaining toilets in the Grainger Market, City Library and Civic Centre which are still available during opening hours. In addition, we have been successful in securing £60,000 of Government levelling-up funding for two Changing Places toilets. These are fully accessible and are equipped with hoists, to help adults get on the toilet, and continence changing pads, and are being installed at the Civic Centre and Northern Stage with the former expected to be open by October.”
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