{"id":202967,"date":"2025-06-21T16:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T16:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/202967\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T16:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T16:37:09","slug":"merton-residents-rally-for-better-public-toilet-provisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/202967\/","title":{"rendered":"Merton residents rally for better public toilet provisions\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merton residents are campaigning for better public toilet provisions in the borough following a London-wide campaign launched by Age UK.<\/strong><\/p>\n

More Loos for Merton are calling for better public toilet access in the local area following the \u201cLondon Loos\u201d<\/a> campaign launched by Age UK.<\/p>\n

One of More Loos for Merton\u2019s leading members, Keith Davies, explained the noticeable difference between more and less affluent boroughs with regards to toilet provision.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cOther councils were working harder to improve provision and encourage community toilet schemes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, in Richmond and in Lewisham, they were much further ahead than Merton as far as encouraging community toilet schemes were concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

The London Loos campaign has discovered that the city currently has around 1,500 public toilets, yet it is hardly enough for an area of approximately eight million people.<\/p>\n

The Age UK campaign forms part of the larger Out and About<\/a> campaign which seeks to improve community infrastructure in an effort to combat rising isolation levels amongst older people.<\/p>\n

It is hoped improved public toilet provision will reduce social isolation amongst older Londoners.<\/p>\n

Age UK\u2019s research<\/a> has shown many older people feel less confident leaving their homes due to worries about not having a toilet accessible when they need one.<\/p>\n

Residents in Merton have expressed their concerns about the current state of public toilet provision in the area, too.<\/p>\n

In the autumn of 2022, Merton Council<\/a> issued a consultation to residents on public toilets in the borough, which led to the creation of More Loos for Merton in November 2022.<\/p>\n

The consultation found nine out of ten residents found current toilet provision in Merton as either poor or very poor.<\/p>\n

More Loos For Merton carried out an audit on the borough\u2019s current public toilet provision in spring 2023, leading to independent Councillor Steven Mercer producing a report on the provision which was then sent to the council\u2019s scrutiny committee.<\/p>\n

Cllr Mercer encouraged the committee to recognise public toilets as an essential part of the council\u2019s public health policy.<\/p>\n

Merton Council agreed to fund a temporary project officer for the campaign group by the Spring of 2024 who would review the current toilet scheme and reintroduce it in the borough, yet Davies claimed the process has been slow.<\/p>\n

Davies said: \u201cThey\u2019re not really putting much money into it, in our view.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially given the massive impact public toilet provision has for older people, people with disabilities and for parents with small children.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems as if the Council has expected the private sector or charity sector to step in.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticularly with the cost of living crisis, they\u2019re not necessarily able to fund additional cleaning, or additional maintenance of these facilities if they open them to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Age UK London\u2019s campaigns manager John McGeachy, said: \u201cThe provision of toilets is a basic need and the lack of toilets, highlighted in our Lifting the Lid, shows that the number of toilets in London is at its lowest level ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal authorities in London must take responsibility to ensure toilets are available not just for older people but for all residents and visitors to their boroughs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe local groups that we support in six boroughs including More Loos for Merton do a great job working with the local authorities to drive change on this issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLack of toilets has profound effects including the \u201cloo leash\u201d where older people are unable to leave their homes due to the lack of toilets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this time of year, we are encouraging people to stay hydrated particularly in the hot weather, but people are reluctant to do so due to the lack of toilets or prefer to stay at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s not just older people who are affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople suffering from a variety of conditions and illnesses including Crohn\u2019s and Colitis and prostate cancer as well as people with disabilities, parents with children and delivery and taxi drivers, postmen and other tradespeople.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a public health issue and councils must step up to the mark when it comes to the provision of toilets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campaign group have also been working alongside Merton and Wandsworth\u2019s GLA member, Leonie Cooper, who along with Cllr Mercer is putting pressure on TfL to reintroduce public toilets at Morden tube station.<\/p>\n

The group is hopeful these public toilets will become available in autumn of this year.<\/p>\n

A Merton Council spokesperson said: \u201cThe council recognises that adequate provision of toilets for public use is an important matter for the health and wellbeing of our residents, and is taking steps to increase the number of facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Community Toilet Scheme has recently been refreshed and is being delivered by a dedicated project officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scheme helps enable the public to use toilets for free in participating local businesses, including caf\u00e9s, shops and restaurants, during their opening hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is on top of already accessible toilets in community facilities such as leisure centres and libraries. As part of our new strategy, the council is working to bring more businesses into the scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Great British Toilet Map, linked on the council\u2019s website highlights 43 available facilities across Merton.<\/p>\n

Current facilities are listed on Merton Council\u2019s Community Toilet Scheme web page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Featured image credit: Julie Johns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Merton residents are campaigning for better public toilet provisions in the borough following a London-wide campaign launched by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[45634,57021,81836,748,4055,393,4884,257,44831,81837,12,81838,1264,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-202967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-accessibility","9":"tag-age-uk","10":"tag-age-uk-merton","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-campaign","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-london","16":"tag-merton","17":"tag-morden","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-public-toilet","20":"tag-tfl","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114722337140093638","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}