We as the public are slowly been driven in to private businesses and in some cases extreme lengths to use the toilet. I would like parliament and all local councils to take responsibility and bring more toilets back to well travelled areas such as the high street. 

My name is Lucinda and I'm starting this petition to make more people aware that there are others out there being refused to use a toilet or can't even find somewhere with a toilet. This is a basic human function and right that needs action or there will be no where to go when out and about. 

Recently my 2yr old had been refused by multiple places, who had toilets but due to covid19 had closed them, but it has now come out that people with disabilities and life long/ long term Illnesses are also being refused. this need to be addressed so please sign my petition to make a change maybe not for yourself but for others who may not want to complain or can't complain. Stand up for those who may have had an accident due to being refused or nothing nearby. 

This is not just a covid19 issue but has been an issue for years and needs to change we all need the toilet so where do we go? 

Even back in 2008, parliament had a meeting about this and agreed toilets are important to the public so why hasn't this changed instead we have fewer places to go.

Here are some comments from the report titled

The Provision of PublicToilets

Twelfth Report of Session 2007–08

The need for and accessibility of public toilets

1. Lavatory humour is deeply ingrained in British society, epitomised by films such as

“Carry On at Your Convenience” and by countless jokes and euphemisms. However,

going to the toilet is a universal need—there are blogs on the internet dedicated to people

sharing their knowledge of clean and accessible toilets around the world

—and publict toilets are a necessity for anyone who wants access to public spaces if those public spaces are not to be degraded. Public toilets are especially important for older people, disabled people, families (especially those with babies and very young children), women, tourists and visitors. Also, since opening hours were extended for licensed premises, there has been a greater need for public toilets to be open for longer.

2. There is a lack of reliable data about the numbers of public toilets still in operation.

According to Government figures there is a consistent downward trend: “over many years a significant number of public toilets have closed or been allowed to deteriorate”.

No precise figures exist; the Audit Commission published an annual review of the level of public toilet provision until 2000, but no longer does so

 However, the trend is clear:Valuation Office Agency data on the number of toilets with a rateable value shows a decrease from 5,410 toilets in 2000 to 4,423 in 2008, a reduction of 987 or 16 per cent.

Conversely, new types of provision, such as Community Toilet Schemes—a scheme by which local authorities work in partnership with local businesses to provide toilets for the public—may be increasing the number of toilets available to the public.

Why do public toilets matter?

 Public toilets matter, for a variety of reasons. Without them, in many areas local authorities and residents need to clean up every morning. The National Organisation of Residents’ Association (NORA) is a group that represents English and Welsh residents’ associations and its Chair, Alan Shrank, described street fouling as “appalling, it is disgusting and if you are a resident affected by it, it ruins your life if every morning,certainly four or five days a week, you have to go out and clean up the mess and it should not happen."

A lack of public toilets results in certain groups feeling anxious about going out. Older people, for example, do not readily leave their homes without the reassurance that they will have access to public toilets, which can lead to ill-health, with consequent burdens on the NHS. Pamela Holmes, Help the Aged’s Head of Healthy Ageing, supported this point:We have research…about the impact on isolation, about the impact on older people’s health - physical, social and mental - when they are unable to go out of the house because they are fearful of not finding a public toilet…. We have got recent figures on one in 10 older people saying that they often or frequently are lonely.

5. Help the Aged’s paper “Nowhere to Go” highlights the social cost to older people of the decrease in public toilets:
Twelve per cent. of older people (1.2 million) feel trapped in their own home, 13 per
cent. of older people (1.26 million) do not go out more than once a week and about
100,000 never go out. Our evidence suggests that lack of public toilets is a significant
contributory factor in the isolation of older people, and the situation will worsen as
toilet provision continues to decline.
6. Disabled people and their carers also lack the freedom to leave their homes without the
reassurance of adequate toilet facilities being available. The National Association for
Colitis and Crohn’s Disease (NACC) is a national charity offering support to people who
have Colitis or Crohn’s Disease—diseases that can strike at any age. It raises concerns
about the lack of public toilet provision:
Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, known collectively as Inflammatory Bowel
Disease (IBD), affects approximately 1 in 400 people living in the UK…. The sudden
and uncontrollable need to use a toilet is a genuine and recognised symptom of IBD….
Having an ‘accident’ in public is every patient’s worst fear and can have a devastating
effect on their ability to undertake everyday activities such as going to work, shopping
or socialising.
7. The Changing Places Consortium is a group of organisations—Centre for Accessible
Environments, Mencap, PAMIS, Nottingham City Council, Dumfries and Galloway
Council, Valuing People Support Team and the Scottish Government—working to support
the rights of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities to access their
community. The Consortium argues that, in the absence of suitable provision such as the
Changing Places toilets, many disabled people are prevented from travelling into town
centres and spending money, which would support the local economy. Conversely, if
suitable facilities are provided, so that disabled people have a level of provision comparable
to that of other people, then not only are disabled people more able to go out, but the
pressure on their carers and families is greatly reduced, enabling them to continue their
caring role. As Martin Jackaman, Learning Disabilities Day Services Modernisation
Manager from Nottingham City Council, representing the Changing Places Consortium,
stated in our evidence session: “There are definitely hidden economic benefits.”
(Martin
Jackaman was awarded the Guardian Public Servant of the Year Award in 2007 for his
campaigning work on public toilets for severely disabled people.)

8. Tourists and visitors also rank the availability of toilets high in their lists of reasons why
a location is worth visiting, a point made by Peter Hampson, Director of the British Resorts
and Destinations Association (BRADA): “If you are a visitor and there on a temporary
basis, provision of toilets becomes absolutely fundamental…most journeys start and finish
with people going to the loo.” Alan Shrank confirmed this point: “It makes a lot of
difference to the whole attitude that people have as tourists when they come to a town if
they find there are conveniences where they want them.”
9. There are direct benefits to local authorities providing public toilets, of which tourism is
one. As Clara Greed, Professor of Inclusive Urban Planning at the University of the West
of England, who has researched and written extensively on the provision of public toilets,
states, “It is important to argue ‘the business case’ that investment in good toilet provision
has been shown to increase retail turnover, tourist numbers, and economic growth.”
Pamela Holmes supported this view:
You cannot cost it simply on what the loo paper and bricks might end up costing, you
have got to see it as part of a broader context of a neighbourhood that is supporting and
enabling its members to take part and get out and about.

LET MAKE A CHANGE!