Thank you for contacting me regarding the lack of provision of, and access to, public toilets. I completely agree with you about the importance of ensuring that everyone has access to appropriate toilet facilities. Public toilets are a key part of public health. I appreciate that without access to adequate facilities, activities we all value like visiting shops or restaurants and socialising with friends and family can become challenging.
Whilst there has been some progress, overall facilities do not seem to have improved fast enough. Calls have been made for the Welsh Government to take action to help ensure public toilets are maintained.
Many councils are reported to be looking to close public toilets, in a bid to save more money. The Welsh Conservatives have urged ministers to place “statutory obligations” on local authorities. The move would ensure that there are minimum access standards for public conveniences.
The survey on public toilets published by the Wales Seniors Forum found that 59 per cent of people said that a lack of public toilets would mean they wouldn’t go out or would limit how long they spent away from their home. Around 11 per cent also said that the absence of toilets would cause them panic, desperation, or distress. Access to public toilets is really important, particularly for older people, those with disabilities and people who might need to use them as a changing room or as a baby-changing facility.
However, over half of our public conveniences have closed since 2010 and even though we had the opportunity to address the issue with the Public Health (Wales) Act 2019 when it passed through the Senedd, there still isn’t a legal obligation on local authorities to ensure that they have a sufficient network of public conveniences.
My Welsh Conservatives colleagues and I will continue to work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of and access to toilet facilities in our towns and cities across Wales.
