The porcelain loo down by the Quayside drew some attention.  A toilet, in the wild, without a shop, café, or bar attached is something of a novelty here: Newcastle City Council locked the doors of all but one of our public conveniences in 2012 in the face of ruthless government cuts. Now two of their former town centre toilets are wine bars, including the iconic Bigg Market WC, where you might feel obliged to spend more than a penny to use the facilities.

At the Quays, passersby had questions, as did ACORN’s Newcastle branch, who had transported their travelling toilet into town precisely to highlight the issue of the city’s missing public loos and to marshal the views of the public. For once, everyone was willing to talk toilets, and there was a huge amount of support for the campaign to bring them back.

The demise of publicly owned toilet facilities is a national issue. There are a shrinking number of accessible public spaces where we can simply exist as anything but consumers. We must resist this and insist on equal and free enjoyment of our communal areas, part of which is restoring our municipal loos.

For many of us, it is not a matter of convenience, but one of necessity. With this in mind, back in spring, ACORN members voted to challenge the lack of public toilet provision in Newcastle, with an immediate focus on opening up the only accessible toilet in Leazes Park, just a few minutes from St James’ Stadium.

Having agreed on their campaign, members set about gathering information, a task which involved navigating the convoluted structure of council departments and submitting a series of FOI requests. Members also connected with other organisations, including charities Difference North East and the Elders Council (who work to tackle social exclusion and isolation, with a focus on increasing older people’s access to social and leisure activities) to form an alliance.

Following a poster and leaflet campaign, the conversations at the Quays, and a spot on the Elders Council radio show ‘Older Voices’, ACORN Newcastle devised another direct action. In July, members rolled up at a meeting of the council’s Health Scrutiny Committee to undertake their own scrutiny.  With the authority that only hard-hats, clipboards, and hi-vis can convey, they delivered their conclusions to Committee members: the council had failed on several fronts.

Firstly, they had failed to provide a plan for good public toilet provision. Newcastle City Council relies, as many authorities now do, on a community toilet scheme whereby local businesses and venues agree to open up their toilets to non-customers. This is, of course, not a serious solution. It entails people knowing exactly which stores and eateries are participating, it relies on staff awareness of the initiative, and, despite intent, there is an innate pressure to make a purchase in return. The 2018 Domestos ‘Use Our Loos’ campaign infers just this.

It also fails to consider the additional challenges faced by anyone who cannot just slip in and out of a venue with minimal hassle, and so becomes one more means of limiting who gets to enjoy public spaces. For those of limited mobility, the prospect of navigating packed-in tables and rails to reach a toilet—which will invariably be at the back of a café or in a far-flung corner of a fourth floor—is daunting to say the least. Add in unexpected codes and keys or ‘out of use’ signs and the whole experience becomes miserable for everyone.

Members also decreed that the council had failed to address barriers to inclusion in public life. Those challenges, along with countless others, mean that many of Newcastle’s residents and visitors have long found themselves all but excluded from any number of public places. And it’s not only those with mobility issues who find themselves unable to freely enjoy parks and other shared spaces: the suddenly-urgent search for facilities is distressing for children and carers alike, especially when factoring in a pushchair or pram. Our lack of public toilets means that the possibility of an ‘accident’, and the prospect of dealing with its aftermath, is a huge barrier to inclusion, especially since millions of people across the country have invisible disabilities and chronic conditions that necessitate easy access to a loo.

A lack of public conveniences can make even a short trip too risky and anxiety-inducing to be worthwhile. ACORN Bristol member, Nigel, described his own experiences of this in a powerful video appeal to Bristol’s mayor and council as part of his own branch’s Unlock Our Toilets campaign. That swathes of the population live in fear of such mortification, or effectively withdraw from our shared spaces to avoid it, should shame every decision-maker that deems it acceptable.

ACORN’s Bristol branch is also fighting to re-open public toilets. In February, after earlier staging a Christmas ‘piss-in’ occupation of the City Council’s own toilets during a meeting of their Cabinet, ACORN forced toilets onto the agenda at the Council’s annual Budget meeting—with two thirds of councillors (every party other than Labour) voting to fund the re-opening of toilets. Due to the peculiarities of Bristol’s mayoral system, Mayor Marvin Rees was able to cut a deal with local Conservatives to ignore ACORN’s proposals, to general public outrage. Three months later, the city voted to abolish the position of Mayor, with campaigners citing the Mayor’s undemocratic decisions on toilets as a key factor.

In Newcastle, ACORN’s immediate demand is that the council commit to returning the accessible toilet in Leazes Park to public use. The Health Scrutiny Committee agreed to this. However, it’s not straightforward; it turns out the council cannot simply unlock the doors. The city’s parks and green spaces are managed by the charity Urban Green, which took over majority control and maintenance in 2019.  This handover is a result of the massive budget cuts imposed on our city in the years up to 2017. To be blunt, it appears that our city can no longer afford public toilets or parks. Which begs the question: what else might it be forced to relinquish if we don’t take action?

One consequence of the city council’s arrangement with the charity is the difficulty in determining the key decision-makers when it comes to the facilities at Leazes Park. Urban Green reports that the toilet is part of a café on site and that the business owner is, so far, reluctant to reopen the loo. But is that their decision to make? And, if so, is that really acceptable, given that the toilet’s closure means that the park isn’t equally accessible to all? Urban Green’s aims, as stated on their website, include ‘enhancing the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the people of Newcastle’, and broadening the ‘diversity’ and ‘enjoyment’ of park visitors. It’s clear that these aims can’t be achieved if Leazes Park doesn’t have facilities that meet a diverse range of needs. UrbanGreen say they are committed to their aims and thus negotiations between the charity and their tenant are underway. ACORN Newcastle are still on the case and awaiting action.

Ultimately, in Newcastle, Bristol, and across the country, our representatives and their chosen partners have a duty of care to every one of their constituents. They must understand that it is they who are accountable to us and prove their commitment to equality, inclusion and public health by ensuring we all have access to the most basic of facilities. ACORN will continue to demand that they do.