{"id":245897,"date":"2025-07-07T18:14:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T18:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/245897\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T18:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T18:14:14","slug":"vandals-strike-new-edinburgh-public-toilets-before-they-open-for-the-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/245897\/","title":{"rendered":"Vandals strike new Edinburgh public toilets before they open for the public"},"content":{"rendered":"

New public toilets<\/a> in the Meadows have been vandalised before having a chance to be opened to the public.<\/p>\n

The building hosting the toilets, off Middle Meadow Walk<\/a>, has had its rear wall covered in graffiti.<\/p>\n

Local residents said the delays were frustrating, with one saying the lack of them meant people were urinating in the street near his home.<\/p>\n

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Originally set to open before the summer season, the toilets are now set to open later this month, alongside public toilets in the Leith Links and Inverleith Park.<\/p>\n

Alistair, a pensioner who lives nearby, said: \u201cMy wife\u2019s already written to the council, because it says on the council website it\u2019ll be ready for the [summer].<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The toilets, as viewed from Middle Meadow Walk<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now early July. It goes on and on now. And they missed the Meadows Festival, they took these [temporary] toilets away during the festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just insane that it\u2019s taken so long. We live nearby, and of course, we get people coming and urinating where they shouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council has previously installed temporary toilets in the Meadows and other public parks in the city during busy periods.<\/p>\n

It has said in a news release previously that the toilets were set to open before the summer season, and a council website said in November last year that it was set to open in April or May.<\/p>\n

However, the website now says that the three toilet banks are set to open during \u2018summer\u2019, with a recent news release saying they would be completed during the month of July.<\/p>\n

The new toilets are part of a \u00a31 million investment across the city to provide more free public restrooms, with four new public toilet banks included in the funding.<\/p>\n

One of the four, located in South Queensferry, opened at the end of June.<\/p>\n

The new toilet blocks will feature three regular toilet cubicles, an accessible toilet and a Changing Places toilet, as well as tool storage for local community groups.<\/p>\n

Each will also feature a green roof, bike racks, benches and a drinking water fountain.<\/p>\n

Another local resident, Jamie, had sympathy for the council on the delays, saying: \u201cThese days, it doesn\u2019t really matter which contractors work.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one\u2019s available. So I kind of understand. I can\u2019t get my stuff at home fixed, it takes bloody months. I imagine the council\u2019s in the same situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just find a plumber. Now the fact that Scottish Water had to come in and connect it \u2013 I can understand that that takes months, because it\u2019s Scottish Water.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he said that he was concerned that stones from the construction had ended up in the green space around the construction site.<\/p>\n

Work began on the toilet block at a factory in November last year, with the block being brought to the site in April.<\/p>\n

Follow-up works to plumb in the toilets and otherwise prepare the site have been ongoing since.<\/p>\n

Former uni student Zak lamented the general lack of public toilets in the area. He said: \u201cI will admit, it\u2019s not ideal to have to go to the university library every time you need [a restroom].<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also not a student anymore, so that\u2019s also not useful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culture and Communities Convener Cllr Margaret Graham said: \u201cI\u2019m extremely disappointed to see that our brand-new facilities have been defaced by graffiti.<\/p>\n

“There is of course a real spectrum of \u2018graffiti\u2019, from formal murals like Colinton Tunnel which have the consent and support of the community, through to offensive tags.<\/p>\n

“The majority of the complaints we receive are about the latter. We\u2019re arranging for it to be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Join <\/b>Glasgow Live’s WhatsApp community here<\/a> <\/b>and get the latest news sent straight to your messages<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New public toilets in the Meadows have been vandalised before having a chance to be opened to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,91701,1102,4884,95479,95481,95478,712,95480,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-245897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-council-website","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-middle-meadow","13":"tag-middle-meadow-walk","14":"tag-public-toilets","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-summer-season","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114813315975624646","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245897","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=245897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}