Consultation on Automated Public Toilets

Overview

Sheffield has 6 sets of automated public toilets located around the city.  Five of these facilities are linked to the Council’s JC Decaux advertising contract, which is expiring in January 2016. 

The five automatic public toilets affected are located at:

Angel Street; Birley Moor; Holme Lane; Staniforth Road and Devonshire Green.

The running costs of these five are currently paid for by the company that provides them who gain an income from the advertising on them.  From January 2016, the advertising will stop and the running costs will have to be paid for by the Council.  We estimate that each set of toilets will cost around £20,000 per year to run.

On average, each set of toilets is used 4 times per day so from January, the cost per use will rise to an average of nearly £10.  At the moment there is a 20 pence charge for some and 10p for others.

The city council also coordinates the Community Toilet Scheme whereby local businesses agree to allow their toilets to be used by the public free of charge (see https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/toilets/community-toilet.html for details of the scheme).

The facilities and whether there are alternatives nearby are summarised in the table below:

In addition, plans are being developed to provide a public toilet facility in the precinct at Hillsborough which will have full disabled access.

Why your views matter

When the current advertising contract ends, the cost of continuing to run these five facilities of approximately £20,000 per year will become the responsibility of the Council. 

We are proposing to close the five automated public toilets at the end of the current advertising contract in January 2016.

Ahead of a final decision, we are now seeking the views of the public about the impact that this will have.   

What happens next

Thank you for taking the time to give us your views.