Following the latest delay in his long-promised Transport for London (TfL) toilet feasibility study, during today’s Mayor’s Question Time Caroline Russell AM pushed London Mayor Sadiq Khan to explain to Londoners the further delay in publishing the critical document.
The Mayor explained that while “good progress has been made” on the feasibility study, TfL now plans to “publish the full study in the summer.” [1]
In response, Green Party London Assembly Member Caroline Russell said:
“I’ll say it again: Londoners cannot wee in a feasibility study.
"While I appreciate the naturally slow pace of public policy, this latest delay on the long-promised feasibility study is still unacceptable and throws yet another roadblock into an already prolonged campaign to get more toilets on the TfL network.
“I appreciate the Mayor’s acknowledgment that three to five new TfL toilets a year is just not enough, and I will continue to press on in the campaign for more toilets. Londoners deserve to know exactly what their Mayor is doing on this critical issue.”
Notes to editors
[1] London Assembly Mayor’s Question Time
The TfL toilet feasibility study was first proposed by London’s Mayor following his party’s puzzling opposition to Russell’s January 2023 motion to invest £20 million in new, free toilets at TfL stations.
The Mayor’s team indicated the feasibility study would be shared by June 2023, but by August that deadline had been pushed back as well.
Later that month, Caroline published the ‘Loo League Table,’ analysing the many loo ‘deserts’ across the transport network and pushing TfL to explain its failure to make use of the existing upgrade programme on the tube to provide new toilet facilities. This report followed her 2021 “Toilet Paper” report as Chair of the London Assembly Environment Committee, in which the committee found 91.3 per cent of respondents to their survey do not feel toilet provision is adequate to meet their needs.
In January 2024, Caroline announced the successful allocation of £3 million for public toilets on the TfL network in the Mayor’s budget, though urged the Mayor to commit to the full £20 million investment needed to ensure every tube stop has a safe, clean, and operable public toilet.
Most recently, in February 2024 Caroline commissioned new polling from YouGov showing that 74 per cent of respondents believe that there should be more toilets on the TfL network.