Peter
Viggers, MP for the Gosport constituency, today asked the
Minister for Local Government for more consideration to be
given to women in the designing of public conveniences.
The Minister had been asked what role his department played
in encouraging local councils to provide a sufficient quantity
and quality of public conveniences
Peter followed up on the question, advising the Minister
that, according to research undertaken by Cornell University,
men spend an average 45 seconds in a visit to a public convenience,
compared with 80 seconds required by women. He added that
more consideration therefore needed to be given to provision
of much larger and more suitable facilities for women.
Peter said, “No
doubt that some may feel that this is an amusing topic
to be debated, but the Minister did acknowledge
that there is a serious issue here. It is demeaning for women
to have to queue for public conveniences simply because not
enough thought is given to design and provision, and it is
about time that the problem was addressed when architects
are tasked with building new facilities.” |
