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Social change

Anyone who travels around with a baby, child or elderly relative knows only too well that there are problems in finding a loo where and when you need it. You can't have failed to notice that:
  • Many conveniences have been closed by cash-strapped Local Authorities not only because of the high cost of repair, renovation and re-siting, but also because they are the target of vandals and drug-users among others.
  • Attendants are a rarity, with cleaning often done on a contract basis.
  • New stores are now likely to have toilet provision, but arguments rage as to whether this should be for customers only.
  • People travel around by car more and therefore urgently need frequent facilities on motorways and trunk roads as well as in towns.
  • Babies, too, are on the move and parents of either sex require baby-changing facilities.
  • Our 24-hour society has full-time demands which makes a nonsense of locking and closing facilities at sunset.
  • We are far more aware now of how much water we waste - we each use 150 litres of drinkable water every day and a third of this goes down the toilet.

Campaigns for change

So how are we to deal with these changes and our demands for availability, access and cleanliness? Two campaigns have started up despite our national apathy and personal embarrassment, both of which can hinder speaking out for better conditions.

The first is run for the benefit of disabled people by a charitable organisation called ITAAL (Is There An Accessible Loo? - see "Further information"). It started in 1997 when a group of disabled women, fed-up with not being able to travel around because they did not know where accessible loos were, got together with teams of volunteers to publish a directory of suitable facilities. ITAAL makes a point of running a clearing house system so that issues and concerns are passed on to the organisations that can best deal with them.

The second is a recent movement begun in the US to highlight the particular problems of women for whom queuing for the loo in public places is the norm. Pressure is building up for more women's toilets to be built. After all, we may not go to the loo as often as men, but we take longer and our needs demand privacy. We don't really fancy rows of specially-designed female urinals which has been one suggestion. A new resolution here for the WI, perhaps?

We need another attempt at a Private Member's Bill to promote a statutory obligation for local councils to provide public conveniences, including 'disabled' and baby-changing facilities for dads and mums. We also need national minimum standards to deal with maintenance and cleanliness, and ongoing research into water economy and reuse.

In the meantime commerce is showing some initiative in relieving those personal emergency situations. A Surrey-based company called Personal Waste Products Ltd (see "Further information") is marketing a disposable leak-proof unisex bag you can keep in the glove box of your car.

It has a second bag inside full of polymer crystals that solidify urine into a non-smelly gel that you can put in the bin later. Says Director Carl Rees, "The nightmare of being stuck in traffic jams and motorway queues when you are dying to use the loo is now a thing of the past." You need only some sort of discreet cover-up while you use it.

But maybe what we really want is the inspiration of a 'privy counsellor' - another effective and outspoken woman politician like Barbara Castle who, along with the NFWI, fought a generation ago to abolish those turnstiles.

Alma Williams OBE sits on the EU Economic and Social Committee and is a member of Ripon Centre WI.
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