Public toilets in Highbury Crescent

• I WRITE in response to the letter from councillors Nurullah Turan and Roulin Khondoker, (We are committed to investing in public toilets, January 27).

Islington Council have promised to invest in public toilets, bravo. Our council is now coming clean, well almost, about the state of our public toilets. There have been no automated public toilets in Islington for months: the audits in October and in January made that very clear.

It is no surprise that the only public toilet in Islington which is functioning is the toilet serving Chapel Street Market, and that is attended. Attended facilities are, of course, the way forward. Islington wants to replace their old stock with “modern, accessible, reliable, automated toilets”.

These sound dangerously like the empty, lavatorial buzz-words which you can still find on the council website about the current stock! For a borough with a population of a quarter-of-a-million, real consideration needs to be given to adequate toilet provision.

Attended toilets provide clean facilities and are less vulnerable to anti-social behaviour. They also cater for a greater footfall. A single- booth toilet in Holloway or Finsbury Park is just not fit for purpose; even if it was open.

CORNELIUS McAFEE
Address supplied