Calls for more public toilets as Falkirk area drops from 17 to one in 15 years

The only remaining public toilet in the Falkirk Council area is located in The Square at Blackness – but a decision has been made to also close this.

Three of the last four public toilets – in Glebe Street, Falkirk; York Lane, Grangemouth; and Register Street, Bo’ness – closed permanently on April 1, 2022 as a money saving exercise.

At the time a Falkirk Council spokesman said: “The closure of the public toilets in Bo’ness, Falkirk and Grangemouth was agreed by the council as part of the annual budget exercise at their meeting on March 2, 2022. This is estimated to save around £135,000 a year.”

Freedom of Information details provided by 19 of Scotland’s 32 councils stated were was at total of 355 public toilets operating in the country in 2022 compared with 521 in 2007 – that’s a drop of 31 per cent.

The Falkirk area saw a drop of 94 per cent since 2007, with 17 public toilets falling to just one.

Now the Scottish Lib Dems, toilets are calling on the Scottish Government to begin a “substantial programme of capital works to provide more public toilets”.

The Scottish Government responded by stating it is up to local authorities to decide “how to best allocate their budgets to meet local priorities”.

There have been money saving plans on the table for a number of years to close the public toilets in the Falkirk area.

Back in 2016, when there were discussions and proposals to close them, a partnership scheme – entitled Spend a Penny – was drawn up which would have seen

a variety of business, many of which have now closed, opening their doors to people who needed to pop in to relieve themselves.

Last December members of Falkirk Council agreed to explore the options for handing the toilets over to any community groups who want to look after the facilities.

This was after moves to reopen public toilets in Grangemouth, Falkirk and Bo’ness were rejected.