Whitehaven MP urges public toilet rethink
BBCAn MP has urged the council of a town without public toilets to rethink its decision not to fund the upkeep of new ones.
Josh MacAlister, the Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, told BBC Politics North: "We have done a huge amount of public engagement and the number one issue, the one thing they want to see changed, is the introduction of public toilets."
Having previously tried unsuccessfully to persuade Whitehaven Town Council to agree to fund the upkeep of proposed new toilets in the Cumbrian town centre, he has now asked it to reconsider putting money into other things.
Whitehaven Town Council declined to comment, but previously said the cost would be "exorbitant" at £61,000 a year.
Whitehaven's last on-street public toilets were demolished in 2014.
The town council voted against proposals for new ones, which would have seen it pay for the upkeep while Cumberland Council would have paid for the building and installation.
Dad Curtis Radcliffe said the lack of conveniences meant access to baby changing facilities was "really limited".
Market trader Rhett Harrison said: "The Victorians could furnish England with some amazing public toilets that were art objects in their own right and now we can't even seem to run the most basic public toilet system."
Geraldine Cooper, from the charity Crohn's and Colitis UK, said one of the symptoms of the conditions was urgently needing the toilet.
She said access to public toilets could mean the difference between staying at home and "living the life that you want to live".
Whitehaven Town Council declined to comment when approached last week, but previously said the location of the proposed toilets was unsuitable and the maintenance costs "exorbitant" at £61,000 a year.
