The Public Lose

The news that Louise Hughes,  a councillor, removed a  padlock from the doors of  the public loos in protest at its closure probably resonates with many in the Conwy area, although we're tempted to wonder why a headline along the lines of 'Hughes in the News with the Loos' wasn't forthcoming.

Louise claimed “a red mist” descended on her when she saw council workers padlocking the toilets in her village, Llanegryn, and said: “I obtained the key and put the water back on. I didn’t put the electrics back on." She added: “There are no toilet facilities in the village. Where are people supposed to go?" Louise’s protest happened on Tuesday but when she returned, doubtless flushed with success,  new padlocks had been put on the toilets.

This issue of public toilets across the region is a thorny one.  On the one hand, they cost money to run - that's beyond dispute -and that money, as always, has to come from the Council tax-payers.  But the other side of this particular coin is the damage closed toilets do to our image.

There is a story behind this. Mostyn Champneys used to have several toilets available in the big stores.  This was useful for those who drove - first thing in the morning - a fair distance to be there when the stores opened.  Gradually, however, the toilets were closed until only one - Homebase - remained available.  Week after week, however, this toilet - including the disabled facility - would be vandalised, until eventually the store closed off public access for good.  Now, the truly dependent (excluding those with terminally debilitating Parcopresis) only have one toilet - MacDonalds - to use, which involves circumspectly entering and wearing one's best deadpan expression.

There are solutions to the problem of vandalism;  prisons have been using them for years and, in the USA, New York takes an interestingly pragmatic approach, mandating that all retail stores over a specified square footage in size must provide toilets for the public. But the bottom line (no pun intended) is that people need toilets, and if they're not provided then they'll think twice about visiting.

Makes these fascinating facts about loos pale into insignificance...

• On average a person spends three years of their life on the toilet.
• Manhole covers are deliberately heavy to prevent them being blown off by a build-up of methane gas from the sewers below.
• 855,000 phones are flushed down the toilet every year in the UK.
• Every day 72,000 acres of woodland, an area not far short of the Isle of Wight, are used to manufacture toilet paper.