Haringey Residents Demand Toilets

Press release from Haringey Federation of Residents Associations:

The Haringey Federation of Residents Associations this week, in a letter to the Leader of the Council, called for the for the immediate implementation of the agreed Community Toilets Scheme in Haringey. The Federation believe (see quote below) that there is no need for any further 'scandalous' delays to what is a long-awaited and popular scheme in place in other boroughs and backed by the GLA. The Council promised in June that the scheme would be 'under way' during the summer of 2009. However, Council officers told the Federation this week that they are still at the 'research and options' stage.

The Community Toilets Scheme is one where the public have free access to toilets in cafes, pubs and other commercial and public buildings all over Haringey - by agreement with those running such venues. The Scheme is highly successful in other boroughs and backed by the GLA.

Following extensive lobbying from the Haringey Federation of Residents Associations and the Haringey Forum for Older People over the previous 18 months, Cllr. Matt Cooke (the LBH Cabinet member responsible for regeneration) said at the beginning of June 2009:

"Far from simply talking about providing better public access to toilets Haringey Council has agreed to trial a community toilet scheme starting this summer. We want to see this scheme implemented across Haringey as it's good for the community and has been proven to be good for business in the areas which have tried it. It’s important we get the scheme right which is why we’re funding an 18-month trial this summer. We’re confident that the trial will be successful and the final scheme can be top-notch."

Cllr. Cooke added that the Council also does not anticipate that such a scheme will be costly.

The Council promised it would be under way by the summer of 2009, but has not yet managed to get it up and running. On 10th November the Federation was told that officers responsible for launching the Scheme have got bogged down at the ‘research and options’ stage for the last 6 months. This will have disappointed a lot of people.

On 11th November the Federation wrote back to the officers responsible, as well as the Council Leader (Cllr. Kober), asking for a report on what the options currently being considered are, what the research has shown, and what exactly the challenges are considered to be.

The Federation have offered to advise and help get the scheme implemented very quickly. They are calling on everyone to insist on immediate action to launch the Scheme.

Dave Morris, Federation secretary, said today: "Following over a year of lobbying by residents groups the Council finally agreed to back our proposal and have it up and running over the summer. The much-needed and long-awaited Scheme is already in place in other boroughs, so it would be scandalous to delay it any further. We are calling on all residents and community groups to contact the Council insisting on immediate action. "


Dave Morris - HFRA Secretary
email: info@haringeyresidents.org
020 8211 0916