Last month, the campaign group More Loos for Merton contacted us to ask if public toilet provision features in our manifesto. This month, the London Loo Alliance released their manifesto. Yesterday, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) announced the publication of new research showing that there are 15,481 people for every public toilet in England, and that there has been a 14% overall reduction in public toilets across England since 2016. Here is what we have to say.

Public toilet provision in Merton is extremely poor, and Merton Labour, who have had overall control of the Council since 2010, have done little to address this ongoing problem. Indeed, despite Councillor Stephen Mercer’s and Alderman Peter Southgate’s excellent report published in June 2023, its findings and recommendations have, by and large, been ignored.

Furthermore, whilst we felt hopeful when the Council decided to fund the role of a Community Toilet Scheme Project Officer for a year, and believe that the person who held the role tried as hard as she could, we remember doubting that a year would be a sufficient amount of time to overhaul the existing scheme, and we worried that there would be limits as to what could be achieved without a corresponding commitment of a more substantial, dedicated pot of money from the budget.

Sadly, we think that our suspicions were well-founded, and that the Borough has been done a disservice.

Should Merton gain its first Green Councillors this year, we guarantee that they will gladly collaborate with any other Councillors who are prepared to take forward the work of Stephen, Peter, the London Loo Alliance and More Loos for Merton. We understand that public toilets are not a nice-to-have, but are, rather, an essential part of infrastructure in the public realm. We look on with envy at other London Boroughs who have a robust Community Toilet Scheme and/or have invested in standalone public toilets, and we see much to learn from other parts of the UK and other parts of the world.

At the very minimum, each Green Councillor would acquaint themselves with the existing public toilet provision in their ward, and then embark upon dialogue with potential new participants in the Community Toilet Scheme, with the aim of: a) getting them on board; b) supporting them to overcome any teething issues; and c) championing their contribution to civic life. We know that there are business owners and managers who are worried about the possibility of antisocial behaviour and an adverse impact upon staff time and morale. However, we are optimistic that there is learning to be taken from successful Community Toilet Schemes elsewhere, and that Merton can end up with an extensive scheme that runs smoothly and ends up bringing more custom to businesses.

In addition, we endeavour to build upon the work of Green London Assembly Member Caroline Russell, who has, for many years, been lobbying the Mayor to invest more in public toilet provision, especially on the Underground and Transport for London’s network more widely. As evidenced by the reinstatement of public toilets at Morden Underground Station, her campaigning has borne fruit, and we will seek to bolster it, whether or not we experience electoral success.