The Port Health & Environmental Services Committee of the City of London Corporation met on 7 October 2025 to discuss public convenience provision, appointments to sub-committees and representatives to outside bodies. The committee was also scheduled to review the minutes from the previous meeting. Some items, including discussion of Port Health and Environmental Services debtors and the Superintendent's House, Cemetery & Crematorium, were scheduled to be discussed in private.

Public Convenience Provision

The committee was scheduled to consider a report from Katie Stewart, Executive Director, Environment, regarding public toilet provision within the City of London. The report noted that the provision of public conveniences is delivered as a partnership between the City of London Corporation and other public and private sector organisations, with a total of 19 facilities available across the Square Mile. In addition, the City Corporation has a Community Toilets Scheme, where 69 businesses offer their facilities to the public.

The report noted that providing public conveniences is not a statutory function for local authorities, and that the current financial position for City Fund is challenging. The report provided an update on actions that could maximise the effectiveness of existing toilet provision across the Square Mile, which were agreed at the last meeting:

• Review and enhance the publicity and signage for the City Corporation's public toilets at all locations.
• Refurbish the toilet facilities within the City Corporation's car parks.
• Identify potential locations for additional Urilifts.
• Explore opportunities for a limited reopening of the public toilets at Blackfriars (after the completion of the Tideway project¹).
• Review the benefits, promotion and funding of the Community Toilets Scheme.
• Press for further private sector provision of public toilets through the planning process.
• Continue efforts to reduce the impacts of anti-social behaviour.
• Explore additional funding opportunities to reinvest into the provision and maintenance of public toilets.

Regarding publicity and signage, the report stated that officers had identified an opportunity to refresh 230 Legible London signs² across the City so that they display details of the nearest public convenience. The project is being planned in conjunction with colleagues from Transport & Public Realm, with changes scheduled to be delivered between October 2025 and July 2026. The City Corporation provides information on toilet locations and opening hours on its website in the form of an online map. Officers had explored the possibility of adding public and community toilets to Google Maps, but this has proven challenging. Paper maps are available at the City Information Centre, City Libraries and the Guildhall. Signage has been installed at the Guildhall North and West Wing entrances as well as the London Centre and the Art Gallery. As part of the renegotiation for the lease of One New Change, officers have stipulated that improved signage directing members of the public to the public conveniences is implemented as a condition of their lease extension.

Projects are underway to refresh the toilet facilities at Baynard House and London Wall car parks, scheduled to be completed by November 2025. Works at Minories Car Park have recently been approved. New signage has been installed at the sites to make it easier for members of the public to find the facilities. The City Surveyors Dept have been working to undertake a total refurbishment of Tower Hill toilets, which were last refurbished in 2005. The refurbishment will include a Changing Places toilet³. Guidance from The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers also fed into the design process to make the facilities more accessible for individuals with visual impairment. Works began last month and are due to be finished by Easter 2026, with a total budget cost for the project of £935,000.

An exercise in early 2025 identified 30 potential locations for Urilift units⁴; ground radar surveys were subsequently conducted at these sites. However, due to subterranean infrastructure none of the locations had sufficient space to accommodate the size of unit required. In July 2025, the City Corporation received advice from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that they strongly advised the Urilifts that we operate were removed from service until further notice. Officers are currently investigating alternatives for the festive period.

Public toilets on the Embankment in the structure beneath Blackfriars Bridge were demolished in 2015 as part of the Tideway project for London's 'super sewer'. Thames Water are under an obligation to re-provide those facilities at the completion of the scheme later this year. A limited reopening regime for major events such as London Marathon, Lord Mayor's Show and New Year's Eve is an affordable option which officers will look to pursue. The City Surveyors are exploring a range of commercial options for the under croft at this location which could require or enable on-site toilet provision.

The City Corporation established a Community Toilet Scheme (CTS) in 2009 to help increase the amount of toilet provision in the City. It currently has 69 member premises. Premises are identified by a sticker displayed in their window. The sites are audited at least twice a year. In return for offering their facilities to passers-by, the businesses can claim up to £600 pa for additional expenses.

Officers have been working closely with Planning colleagues to identify appropriate levers in the planning process to increase public toilet provision throughout the City of London. In City Plan 2040⁵, policy HL6 Public Toilets promotes a widespread distribution of publicly accessible toilets which meet public demand, including for Changing Places toilets, 24-hour provision and support for an increase in membership to the Community Toilet Scheme. The City will seek to require major developments to provide publicly accessible toilets going forward, plus policy CV3 aims to meet the needs of visitors in new cultural developments by encouraging well-designed public convenience provision, including Changing Places toilets that are accessible to all users.

Officers have regular meetings with the City of London Police (CoLP), Community Safety team and Parkguard, with any areas subject to specific issues of public urination referred to either CoLP or Parkguard for monitoring and/or enforcement. Between September 2023 and August 2025, 17 fixed penalty notices were issued for instances of public urination. The Cleansing Service is working on a high-profile initiative aimed at reducing public urination associated with the nighttime economy in the Square Mile. This campaign (provisionally called Go before you go ) focuses on intervening at a critical moment by encouraging patrons to use the toilets in pubs and bars before leaving. As part of a further on-street intervention officers have undertaken a small project at a secluded corner on Fann Street, which had become a regular hotspot for public urination.

In 2024/25 the cost to the Environment Department's local risk budget of providing the City's two attended public toilets was £645,000. This cost included utilities, rates, supplies, consumables and staffing costs. This cost was offset by income generated from entry to the sites totalling £253,000, for a net cost to the Environment Department of £392,000. Overheads and maintenance costs of £164,000 bring the overall cost to the City Corporation to £556,000. Two facilities at Eastcheap and Royal Exchange+ Bank Station were closed in 2020 as they were uneconomic to operate. TfL have expressed a strong interest in acquiring the Eastcheap facilities to enable the redesign of that junction.

The report noted that the net operating cost of the City's two staffed public conveniences was £556,000 in 2024/25. The current entrance fee of 50p was introduced over ten years ago to help offset the costs to the Corporation of running these facilities and it has not changed since.

The committee were asked to note the report.

Appointments to Sub-Committees and Representatives to Outside Bodies

The committee was scheduled to hear from the Town Clerk concerning appointments to sub-committees and representatives to outside bodies.