Issue - meetings
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Meeting: 16/07/2026 - Council (Item 21)
21 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 
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To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.
Decision:
In accordance with Standing Order 4.8.10(c), one question was submitted by a member of the public by the required deadline date set out in the Constitution.
(A) Letchworth Lido Toilets for Norton Common Users
Jessica Crighton to Councillor Amy Allen, Executive Member for Environment.
As Ms Crighton was unable to attend the meeting, the Chair presented the question to the Executive Member for Environment in their absence.
Minutes:
Audio recording – 09 minutes 50 seconds
In accordance with Standing Order 4.8.10(c), one question was submitted by a member of the public by the required deadline date set out in the Constitution.
(A) Letchworth Lido Toilets for Norton Common Users
As Ms Crighton was unable to attend the meeting, the Chair presented the question to the Executive Member for Environment in their absence, as follows:
‘Given the importance of accessible toilet facilities for disabled people, older residents, and families, how does the Council justify the absence of publicly available toilets in the green spaces it manages? Will the Council consider opening up the toilets at Letchworth Lido free for use by Norton Common visitors?’
Councillor Amy Allen provided the following response:
‘I completely recognise the importance of having available facilities for people to use, especially those that are disabled, elderly, and in need. There used to be public toilets in Norton Common a very long time ago. They were inappropriately used and resulted in a lot of issues, including vandalism, and they had to be constantly repaired, closed and many years ago, there a simple discussion amongst the Safety Audit, the Police, etcetera, that the best thing we could do would be to close it because unfortunately, they were a magnet for inappropriate behaviour. As I understand it, there is not scope at the moment to in any way rebuild, reopen, or include new toilets there because of exactly how I’ve just explained it. As for the toilet at the Lido, it is a paid entry place. It would be incredibly difficult to safeguard and monitor members of the public just wandering in and out of it. The whole point of it set up the way it is, is to monitor the numbers, to monitor safety, and to look after the patrons that are there. So, I cannot see in any way that we would be able to open them up to become effectively public toilets. There are other public toilets in town and in the area, but regrettably we don’t have any in the Common as we aren’t able to provide that. I will be putting together a further, more detailed full answer to Ms Crighton upon further investigation but that is the answer.’