Toilet charges could raise £70k, council claims

Plans to charge people to use a city's busiest public toilets could raise £70,000 in revenue, a council has claimed.

A 50p charge could be introduced at five seafront toilets – Dalton's Bastion, the Colonnade, Shelter Hall and West Pier Arches, in Brighton, and King's Esplanade in Hove, Brighton & Hove City Council said.

Jasmine Oquosa-Withers, of the city's Youth Council, warned that the policy would "disproportionately affect people with protected characteristics".

Council deputy leader Jacob Taylor said the authority would investigate what could be done to support older users.

The plans will be finalised at the council's annual budget meeting on Thursday.

Representatives of the Youth Council and Older People's Council said that fees would especially affect those who needed to use toilets more often or more urgently.

The council's own equality impact assessment of the proposal said the plans "may have a disproportionate impact on disabled people, children, older people, homeless people and general accessibility" and would affect "all potential public toilet users".

The proposed 50p charge is expected to raise £70,000 in revenue for the council, but money would also have to spent installing gates and a connected way to pay, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A meeting of the council's Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee was told that all other council-operated toilets would remain free of charge.

Council deputy leader Jacob Taylor said the "limited proposal" only focused on "really high-volume city centre toilets".

In total, 13 public toilets had been reopened or refurbished under the current Labour administration, Taylor added.

He also said that the council could consider a residents' pass and agreed to investigate what could be done to support older people and residents.

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