Campaign wants businesses to open their loos as the scale of public toilet closures in Sunderland is revealed

Sunderland is one of many councils across the country that has been closing public toilets.

Newly-released figures show that across the city five loos have closed since 2000.

Data obtained by the British Toilet Association (BTA) through a Freedom of Information request shows that there are 17 council operated public conveniences, down from 22 two decades ago.

Across the UK, at least 1,541 of these conveniences were closed over the period – a drop of 39%. The figure could be even bigger as many local authorities did not reply to the query.

Local authorities can come to an agreement with private businesses to open their amenities to the public in exchange for a payment or a tax credit.

The BTA has started a campaign called Use Our Loos to encourage businesses to open their toilets to non-customers and make it visible by having a sticker on display.

The director of the organisation, Raymond Martin, said: “We know that councils are under immense pressure with their budgets and despite having no legal obligation to maintain these public facilities, they have continued to try to reverse the rate of decline.

“They are constantly looking at alternative ideas, such as individual community toilet schemes, to provide reasonable provision for their communities.

“Use Our Loos is a community-oriented solution not about opening more toilets but making more toilets that already exist accessible to the public.”

In Sunderland there is one public convenience for every 16,309 residents, compared to one for 10,930 people in the UK.

A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said: “Councils are doing everything they can to keep public toilets open and ensure there is provision for people with particular needs.

“With substantial reductions to their budgets, councils have had to make tough choices about public facilities but are finding innovative ways of tackling this issue.”

Charities fighting for elderly people’s rights have denounced the impact of the lack of free toilets.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director for Age UK, said: “A lack of public toilets affects everyone but for many older people knowing there’s a decent public convenience freely available for all enables them to get out and about with confidence, without fear of being caught short or drawing attention to themselves.

“We know that some older people with health conditions choose to stay indoors rather than taking a chance on being able to find a toilet if they need one, so public toilets really do make a big difference to their quality of life.”