In response to the City of Edinburgh Council’s budget consultation, and a plan on how to cope with a reduction of £300k or £600k in the city’s public toilet budget, Portobello Community Council has undertaken a survey. This survey gauged local and visitor thoughts on the importance of the current public toilets and the plans which could potentially see all three close.

The community council survey ran until 16 Jan 2015. Awareness was raised by distributing posters, updates on our website, social media and in Portobello Library. Additionally it was picked up by the Evening News and STV Edinburgh.

An interim set of results were sent prior to the deadline for the Council’s budget consultation

The survey results were discussed at the 26 Jan 2015 meeting of Portobello Community Council and the following position was agreed:

<![if !supportLists]>n  <![endif]>The current toilet provision in Portobello is very important, given the prom and beach are visitor destinations

<![if !supportLists]>n  <![endif]>Object strongly to any proposal to close public toilets within Portobello

Subsequently Edinburgh Council has finalised their budget, agreeing a cut of £300k and the closure of 10 toilets outwith the city centre, subject to equality surveys and selection.

Further detail on the results, along with anonymised comments from the over 300 response, can be found in the attached report.