'Stop taking the pee' plea over rural toilets – Poolewe man petitions Scottish Government to make public convenience provision a legal obligation for local authorities like Highland Council; former archaeologist John Wood wants action to stem closure of washrooms that are a "basic human need" in remote areas
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A retired Wester Ross man is seeking to pressure the Scottish Government into making the provision of rural toilets a legal obligation for local authorities.
John Wood (70), a former archaeologist living in Poolewe, launched the petition to the Holyrood Parliament after growing increasingly dismayed by the closure of publicly provided facilities at a time of booming visitor numbers.
He believes good quality washrooms should be viewed as a basic human need for health and hygiene, for tourists, locals and work-related travellers facing long distances between them.
In just two weeks, the petition to Holyrood’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee has attracted over 900 signatures, with the closing date set for August 31.
RELATED: Local authority to be put under pressure over Talmine public loos closure
“I used to travel regularly all over the Highlands for my work and I can certainly vouch that public toilets are an essential,” Mr Wood stressed.
“I now live in Poolewe, directly opposite the village’s public toilets. As lockdown began, the council were withdrawing funding and ours closed. When restrictions eased for visitors in summer 2020, it was chaos really with the village inundated with visitors and campers.
“It became visitors versus locals. It seemed like we were being encouraged to blame them for all of the problems.
“Really, the problem was with the council not providing all the services needed.
“If they had only provided the toilets in the first place, we’d never have had the problems we did.
“If you take away all of the facilities, what are people going to do? Since then, our toilets have reopened but the council is busy trying to get rid of them by offloading onto the local community.
“Actually we all need them, not just tourists, whether it is tradesmen, health professionals, locals or whoever else.
“It strikes me as just such a basic frontline service, a basic matter of human health and hygiene as well as environmental protection. Surely it is down to the public authorities to provide for it.”
The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to ensure local authorities provide good quality, clean and accessible public toilets.
This would involve placing a statutory duty on local authorities to provide adequate public toilets while ensuring sufficient funding is available to meet this requirement.
The petition states: “I am shocked by the apparent belief among politicians that toilets are just for tourists, and that self-contained, drive-through tourists in campervans do not need them.
“We all need toilets, as does the environment. They are not an optional extra that can be cut to save money.”
Mr Wood says approaches to Highland councillors and MSPs on the matter have proven fruitless, prompting him to launch his own petition.
“If the council are correct in saying they can’t afford it, it is up to the Scottish Government to make sure they are funded properly,” he added.
Villages such as Aultbea and Kinlochewe have been forced to take over the running of their public toilets as a community asset. Achnasheen's public toilets are run by ScotRail.
The full wording of Mr Wood’s petition, entitled ‘make the provision of public toilets a statutory duty’ is found at https://petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE1955
A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “The council does not have a statutory responsibility to provide or operate public conveniences, but we understand the importance placed on these facilities by locals and tourist alike.
“Visitor management funding for 2022/23 is £190,000 to enhance existing facilities and extend the comfort scheme, (with a) £333,000 capital budget for 2022/23 and £333,000 for 2023/24.
“The council currently operates 75 public conveniences throughout the Highlands (and) funds 37 Comfort Scheme agreements with local businesses and community groups. These are generally for a three-year term.
“To date, for 2022/23, we have signed agreements with 15 seasonal providers, 11 that are signing up for a second year. This brings the total comfort scheme providers to 52 for this year.
The Council spokeswoman said that, following a strategic review of public toilets in 2018, 28 were recommended for rationalisation.
Of those, 13 were retained by the council, nine were taken over by local communities and six were closed.”
