Will the Cabinet Secretary publish the impact assessment of closing public toilets?
The Welsh Government has not undertaken an impact assessment of closing public toilets. The provision and maintenance of traditional public toilets in Wales is at the discretion of local authorities.
Part 8 of the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 places a duty on each local authority in Wales to prepare and publish a local toilets strategy for its area. The strategy must include an assessment of the community’s need for toilets, including changing facilities for babies and changing places facilities for people with disabilities. The strategy must also provide details of how the local authority proposes to meet the identified need.
The aim of Part 8 is to ensure each local authority in Wales assesses the needs of its community in relation to toilets, and then takes a strategic and transparent approach to best meet that need. This process will enable a broader consideration of options available for providing toilets for use by the public, ranging from traditional stand-alone public toilets through to toilets in private ownership. This is intended to help address the current challenges regarding the provision of public toilet facilities within communities, which have often relied upon traditional stand-alone facilities that have been in decline in recent years due to local authority financial pressures.
The intended effect of Part 8 is not to prevent local authorities from taking decisions which they need to take during the course of their activities, which may include decisions to close a traditional public toilet or building when appropriate to do so. Instead, the intended effect is to improve the planning of provision so that any such decisions are taken within the overall context of meeting their communities’ identified needs.
There is no requirement for the strategies to be presented to the Welsh Government for approval, as the strategies are subject to local authorities’ existing scrutiny structures and public scrutiny.
Under the Act, the Welsh Government must issue guidance to local authorities about the preparation, review and publication of strategies, which local authorities must have regard to. Guidance has been issued to local authorities and is available on the Welsh Government website: Toilets for public use: guidance for local authorities | GOV.WALES