Edinburgh City Council has agreed to invest £5m to revamp its public toilets network – including gender neutral facilities and contactless payment technology – and toilets will be installed in Inverleith Park.
At a meeting of the full council yesterday councillors approved a report calling on the council to invest in 15 of its current public toilets, and to close the toilets in Colinton, as this facility ‘does not align with proposed plans for future provision’.
The report highlights toilets in the capital that are no longer fit for purpose, and where there are gaps in provision – including at the council’s ‘premier parks’, at high-visitor locations such as Portobello beach and the Pentland Hills, and in Edinburgh’s official town centres.
In the longer-term, payment to businesses to open their toilets for general public use will be phased out as provision across the city improves.
As part of the same report, the council has also approved a plan to spend £450,000 of Covid emergency funding installing temporary public toilets in busy premier parks and other ‘hotspot’ areas including the Meadows and Portobello.
