February 24, 2024 - 414 views
Clwyd West MS and Shadow Minister for North Wales has called on the Welsh Government to take action to help ensure public toilets are maintained.
With many local authorities looking to close public toilets in a bid to save money, in this week’s Business Statement in the Senedd, Mr. Millar urged Ministers to place "statutory obligations" on local authorities, to make sure that there are minimum access standards for public conveniences in their areas.
His calls came after a survey by the Wales Seniors Forum which found that 59% of people said that a lack of public toilets would mean they wouldn’t go out or would limit how long they spent away from their home. 11% said that the absence of toilets would cause panic, desperation, or distress.
Calling for a Ministerial Statement by the Welsh Government in the Senedd, he said: “We know how important public conveniences are. Access to loos is really important, particularly for older people, those with disabilities and people who might need to use them as a changing room or as a baby-changing facility.
"Unfortunately, the facts are that over half of our public conveniences have closed since the 2010s, and, even though we had an opportunity to address this issue with the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 that we passed as a Senedd a number of years ago, there still isn't a legal obligation on local authorities to ensure that they have a sufficient network of public conveniences.
“So, can I call for a statement from the Deputy Minister with responsibility for public health, to ensure that this is an issue that the Welsh Government shines a spotlight onto?
“And in that statement, can we have an understanding as to whether the Welsh Government could pick this issue up again and place statutory obligations on local authorities, to make sure that there is access in each local authority area.”
