A portable toilet trial has been extended after council staff asked for more time to work out if it is achieving the aim of stopping drunken revellers relieving themselves on the Rows.
Over 10 weekends Cheshire West and Chester Council left the open air loos overnight at city centre ‘hotspots’.
Council spokeswoman Shirley Wingfield said of the £9,000 pilot scheme: “The trial period for urinals has come to an end and the results have been inconclusive. Although the urinals were used significantly, businesses on the Rows said there had only been a ‘slight’ improvement. The pilot scheme has now been extended for a further 10 weeks at the same locations, using portable toilets. Sundays will not now be included in the trial. “We will continue to monitor the situation.”
Public reaction to the giant-sized ‘potties’, which allow up to three men to go at any one time, was initially massive, with a staggering 40,000 people viewing our Facebook page.
Opinion was divided, with supporters arguing the loos would protect the city’s priceless heritage from the mainly young males who urinate on our streets up to 30 times a night. But many readers felt the toilets were indecent, out-of-keeping in a tourist city, a perverts’ paradise and unhygienic because there is nowhere to wash your hands.
Women complained the system was discriminatory because there was nothing for them to go on. In response, the council provided a portable toilet for women near the Eastgate clock but, unlike the male version that sits alongside, it is enclosed and has a lock.
