North Yorkshire Council is planning to introduce a 40p fee for all its public toilets as well as consider closing some lesser used and dilapidated ones.
The recommendations were made at an Executive meeting of North Yorkshire Council (NYC) yesterday (Tuesday).
A working group had been set up to to review the challenges facing public toilets and develop a set of principles and findings for the future of the council operated service.
They include offering parish and town councils the opportunity to run local toilets with backing from NYC, close ones which are in a poor state or hardly used if there is no alternative, and introduce charges.
There was also a recommendation to commit to a capital improvement programme to ensure, that by 2030, all NYC operated public toilets are classed as being in good or excellent condition, with water bottle refill stations, baby changing facilities and sanitary waste disposal options in both male and female spaces, as well as being energy efficient.
Coun Richard Foster (Wharfedale) the Executive Member for Managing our Environment said: “It’s about having a better set of toilets out there, a better provision. When we took over the toilet infrastructure there were varying different models across the county of how toilets were run.
“In some cases parish councils or town councils operate them, so people pay the precept, other places are paid for, and in other places they’re free and were paid for by the district or borough council at the time.
“It’s trying to find out a fair way. You have heard about a ‘Free to Pee’ campaign, and it would be great but unfortunately there isn’t a free pee. Somebody pays for it somewhere – cleaning fees, water rates, electricity.”
Plans to incorporate toilet fees with parking fees were scrapped from the raft of recommended measures.
NYC operates more toilets than any other council in the UK and estimates between one and two million people use them each year.
Of the 93 public toilets across the county, 65 are free to use. For the 2025-26 financial year, entry fees are forecast to raise £220,000 of income used to offset operating costs. Eighty-three per cent of this is generated by nine coastal sites.
Across Whitby, NYC manages public toilets at the Beach Management Centre and the Marina as well as Staithes, Castleton, Runswick Bay, Sandsend, Robin Hood’s Bay and Grosmont.
Coun Keane Duncan (Norton) was opposed to fee introduction and urged NYC to explore other options.
He said: “There was immense support for the Free to Pee campaign in Malton. Almost 2,000 residents signed that petition and, across North Yorkshire, people who have got in touch with me seem to have the same view. They believe public toilets are a basic fundamental service that should remain free to access.
“While I recognise the council’s financial position, I do hope the executive would agree that charging to go to the toilet should never be the council’s first instinct. It should be its last resort and only where it makes practical and financial sense.
“The cost of barriers and enforcement mean the returns may be less than anticipated. I would like assurance every alternative will be fully and properly exhausted before any move towards extending charging or making closures.”
