BTA letter to Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London – 5 th April 2004

[Read the GLA response to this letter ...]
[Read Ken Livingstone's response to this letter ...]

Mr K Livingstone
Mayor of London
City Hall
The Queen’s Walk
London
SE1 2AA

Monday 5th April 2004

Dear Mr Livingstone

We need your help and advice!

The British Toilet Association is campaigning to improve standards of ‘away from home’ toilets and halt the decline in the availability of public toilets.

We are alarmed at the acceleration of Local Authority public toilet closures in advance of the DDA Compliance requirement of October 2004 and the reluctance of other statutory bodies to provide for this most basic everyday need for every man, woman and child in Britain, not to mention the 26+ million visitors each year.

We are lobbying Government to introduce a statutory obligation on all statutory service providers, covering the provision of appropriate toilet facilities for customers and staff. The Government have yet to be persuaded on this issue.

We are endeavouring to ascertain the overall management policy in respect of toilet provision from London ’s transport providers i.e. trains and buses and, in brief, are not getting very far! The question of toilet provision is not one many senior Managers seem prepared to discuss – hence our letter to you.

Could you please issue us with a statement which sets out your position (and presumably that of your Assembly as well as TFL) regarding the provision of toilets for use by customers/passengers at all London Underground stations and surface transport interchanges.

We know that one of your first acts as Mayor was to order the introduction of staff toilets for drivers etc above and below ground and we commend you for this.

Your views on the provision of public toilets within London Boroughs would also be much appreciated, since the Government believes that Local Authorities are already discussing with their local communities appropriate levels of provision. This we know is far from the reality as, without any statutory obligation, this discretionary service is gradually being squeezed out of existence.

Finally, we congratulate you on your new public toilet facilities on the north side of Trafalgar Square . However, there are a number of issues relating to this development which we feel require discussion and we would be happy to offer our services, free of charge, at this location, in return for your views as outlined above.

Our only Agenda is to raise standards of ‘away from home’ toilets, wherever located and support any initiatives which are aimed at achieving this objective. We are happy to support politicians, of any Party, who believe that toilet provision is worth fighting for.

Regards

Richard Chisnell
Director, BTA

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