To expect the toilet in the park to be open?

[PassingStranger]

Lots of people in the park today as it's a Sunny Bank Holiday.
Picnics, walks, bike rides etc.
Council closed all the toilets how crazy?
Talk about not care about people?

Lots of councils are dirt poor currently and looking to cut costs wherever possible, wouldn’t surprise me if the public loos are a casualty of budget cuts. Unless it’s open most of the time and was randomly closed today, in which case sounds more like a lack of available staff on a Bank Holiday issue.

It’s really nothing to do with caring or not, it’ll be a resource issue one way or another.

Is there a reason? Broken/being decorated etc?
If not, then that's ridiculous on a bank holiday.
How far away are the nearest public toilets?

You will get told you are being unreasonable because councils have no money.

But you are not. Toilets are a medical need, and should be open.

That said, it would also help if toerags didn't vandalise them!

None of my local parks have toilets anymore.

The council just can't afford the cost.

Not just vandalism, but drug taking and in the case of the men's toilets, possibly cottaging.

Public toilets are closing every day. Lack of funds.

Our local park toilets have just closed due to the council going bankrupt.

We go away in our motorhome a lot, and prefer to use the public loos whenever we can, but the number of them that are closed in town and village centres, is absolutely ridiculous, surely they were built for people to use at any time of day, not just when someone at the council decrees. I know that a lot of public toilets have been vandalised over the years, which is why many of them are locked over night, or closed down altogether, sadly, as is often the case, it seems like a few have spoiled it for the many.

There is a general lack of public toilets nationwide. The reasons given for closing them, or not building them in the first place are usually the cost of maintenence and the risk of crime /vandalism. I also find it very annoying when big chain cafés don't bother to maintain their toilets and just close them on an almost daily basis.

But it’s not a question of being reasonable or unreasonable is it? If the money isn’t there it isn’t there.

My father has a medical need and because of a lack of public toilets has to wear adult sanitary wear in case he is caught short.

But he wouldn’t call any council unreasonable for not being able to afford to keep them open. Unfortunate, but not unreasonable.

Libraries are closing in some places because the council can no longer afford them, I imagine toilets are a lot further down the list of important things to be kept open.

Apparently councils are responsible for running public toilets but there is no legal duty for them to provide the facilities and many have been shut to cut costs.
It is one of my bugbears

I think there should be toilets everywhere. I know councils don't have much money but it is a basic need and if none are available some people will probably urinate or even defecate behind bushes. I think if they had them and charged people to enter it would help pay and also reduce vandalism.

There's a kiosk there that sells drink and ice cream even worse.
The assistant said you've got to go to the nearest pub.
I'm sure the pub like that. Not.

Never find a toilet open in a park.
We get told druggies use them.. so they shut them.

Where was the sun today? It's been so wet here.

They can afford them they were just closed.
Why sell ice cream and drinks if you haven't got toilets open too?

People want more toilets, better social care, more regular bin collections, pot holes fixing (and so on and so forth) but don't want to pay increased council tax to fund it.

How do you know they can afford them? Genuinely, I’m not being glib. How do you know they are affordable? Fair enough if you’ve written to the council to ask about budget spend/affordability, but otherwise aren’t you just assuming?

Because the refreshments kiosk isn’t a loss leader and there is no requirement under law for a food outlet with fewer than 10 seats or one providing takeaway services to provide any toilets for customers.

Very much a feminist issue.

Urinary leash

Sun all weekend in Manchester suburbs

The number of public toilets closing in recent years, especially when the buildings themselves are still standing but locked up, is so depressing and the fact that everyone on this thread is just shrugging their shoulders makes it worse somehow.

One comes to expect the dainty brigade on MN who will take the chance to proclaim that they never used them anyway because, eurgh, toilets, disgusting but it seems like everyone accepts this as a fact of life and we all view the public loos of the past as some kind of luxury. They weren't!

... the fact that everyone on this thread is just shrugging their shoulders makes it worse somehow

Especially when they swallow wholesale the narrative that the councils "can't afford it"

To take one of countless examples, given what the east midlands are spending on awarding themselves yet another mayor for a "unitary authority" - for which read a another layer of pointless bureaucracy - I'd say they can afford it perfectly well, but of course toilets don't have the same appeal as a vanity project

I wouldn't mind, but they're not even capable of running what they've got; to hand them more fills many of us in the rea with horror

I would because it's a case of priorities. Many councils DO keep them open and maintained.

Also, they have health and inclusion policies but seem to ignore them (see also their attitude to libraries) unless it suits them.

Also waste disposal. They'd love to stop having to deal with waste, even though it's the one tangible thing we all get for our council tax (yes I know there are others, like street lights).

People want more toilets, better social care, more regular bin collections, pot holes fixing (and so on and so forth) but don't want to pay increased council tax to fund it

Many people are happy to pay increased taxes if it gets spent in the right places. A council claims it has no money to keep loos open but will somehow find the funds to pedestrianise a street that nobody wants them to do.

Ours were closed today as well. Council money is outrageously mismanaged - they have enough, they just don’t put it where it should be.