THE Town Hall has been told to abandon its cost-cutting move to shut public toilets and instead bring in a see-saw measure which would see diesel car drivers pay to keep them open.

Green councillor Sian Berry and Lib Dem councillor Flick Rea say the three threatened toilets  – at Pond Square, Highgate, South End Green, Hampstead, and West End Green, West Hampstead – would not need to close if Camden hikes the cost of parking permits for higher-polluting cars.

In a bid to save £260,000, the council also plans to switch the toilets in Camden Town and at Lincoln’s Inn Fields to a pay-per-use system.

A Camden survey, compiled using laser beams across loo doors, shows that its toilets are used nearly a million times every year.

Cllr Berry and Cllr Rea have now formed an alliance on the issue – they are the lone representatives of their parties at the Town Hall – to suggest a two-pronged strategy: raising the permit surcharge for diesel cars from £10 to £50 a year and using the revenue to keep the loos open.

The current surcharge of £10 a year is not a disincentive for polluting vehicles, Cllr Berry said. Raising it to £50 would generate an annual revenue of £420,600, which could be used to “cancel the savings project” for the public loos.

Plans for public toilet closures were revealed in a New Journal exclusive, and, right, Labour cabinet councillor Meric Apak

Camden environment chief, Labour councillor Meric Apak, said the councillors’ proposals were “interesting”, but  added: “As the purpose of the diesel policy is to promote and encourage more sustainable modes of transport, it would be entirely incorrect to suggest that any resulting increase in revenue would be used to offset expenditure outside of the parking ring-fence, including public toilets.”

But Cllr Berry argues that legislation states parking revenue surplus can be invested in amenities near roads and playgrounds. 

“Both proposals would improve public health and toilets do improve the amenity of the streets,” she said. “I think it will work a treat. My message to the council is: Please do this. Steal it and say you thought of it first.”

Cllr Apak, speaking at the weekend at a public meeting on the planned toilet closure in Highgate, said many ideas had been raised by members of the public on how to keep the toilets open. 

Highgate ward councillor Sally Gimson, who was also at the meeting, said: “I’m afraid communities are going to have to think of innovative ways to keep them open. We’ve got to the stage where the council cannot any longer pay for them. There is an obligation as a council to work really closely with the community.”