Archdeacon Hawkins with Yvonne Klemperer and Sheila Forster

THE Archdeacon of Hampstead has called for a swift resolution to a cemetery public toilet 10-year dispute.

The Venerable John Hawkins backed campaigners from Kilburn Older Voices Exchange (KOVE) who met in Hampstead Cemetery in Fortune Green on Monday.

Despite the cemetery being one of the hidden jewels of Camden, and a godsend during lockdown for somewhere to walk, NW6 residents are often forced into the bushes.

Rev Hawkins told me “I support this on the grounds of decency and compassion. People need to relieve themselves appropriately. For a woman, it’s just not right to have to get undressed in public. For a man, you run the risk of being done for indecent exposure.”

He  said several churches he was responsible for did provide toilets for the public if asked, adding: “But there are one or two where we don’t have any, and I’ve had to go and use the bush. Some church grounds are medieval and so there aren’t drains. To build drains where there are bodies, now that gets really complicated. Here there are drains, so it would be possible.”

KOVE, which campaigns for more public toilets, wants a new toilet tacked onto a lodge at the entrance to the cemetery in Fortune Green Road. Yvonne Klemperer said she had seen the widowed and pregnant women “stumbling around in the bushes”, adding: “It is more than a disgrace that this kind of situation has been permitted to continue … This is a plea for the public right to decent toilets in this amazing green open space.”

Sheila Forster said: “We had such a terrible time in Covid when all the cafes were closed. It just got ridiculous.”

The lodge once had a publicly accessible toilet until it was leased out by the council to the Hampstead School of Art. Principal Isabel Langtry said the toilet problem was “far more complex than I ever imagined” and suggested there could be a public insurance issue, adding: “The lodge at the entrance is occupied by students and I could not have unknown people entering the building – the toilet is unhelpfully located inside a studio space.”

She said she had been told by the council that public toilets was not its responsibility, adding: “We do of course let anyone who asks, use it, though we have had to clear up a couple of very messy ‘visits’ and not even the cleaner wanted to do this – so I did!”

Bernard Heymann, from the Friends of Hampstead Cemetery, said: “It can be resolved if a new facility was built by extending the Lodge where the grounds maintenance staff have their facility. Camden has carried out a study and has recommended this course. However, there are severe fund restrictions.”

Cllr Adam Harrison, Camden Council’s environment chief, said: “Through our joint cemeteries service with Islington, we began earlier this year looking at how we could install an accessible public toilet in Hampstead Cemetery, following requests from the public and councillors. As ever this will depend on funding and obtaining planning permission, but we hope to take this work forward in the New Year.”

Group plans High Road march over public loo demands

KOVE members will be staging a march along Kilburn High Road this weekend calling for better public toilets. The charity, which has been campaigning on the issue for 20 years, is also putting on a concert in the Kiln in Kilburn High Road on November 21.