THE CITY of Edinburgh Council announced yesterday that toilets on Portobello’s promenade will be closing for maintenance for most of March.
This comes after the council’s recent budget meeting, which did not allocate any money to building new toilets in the area.
Councillors had initially explored the proposal for new public toilets which would cost £600,000, after receiving complaints about public urination and even defecation in the area.
This proposal was not included in the final budget, and the council now plans to close one of two public toilets for maintenance next month.
The City of Edinburgh Council posted on social media yesterday to notify locals of the planned works, writing: “The toilets at Pipe Lane, Portobello, will close for maintenance from 3 – 22 March.
“The nearest public toilet to this one is on Bath Street, Portobello. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this will cause.
“Full list of public toilets and opening hours online http://edinburgh.gov.uk/publictoilets”
Whilst the Pipe Lane toilets are conveniently on the promenade, the Bath Street facilities are further inland from the shore, and both are open from 10am to 8pm.
Despite these measures in place, residents have complained of people urinating and defecating on the street and near their homes.
For this reason, new toilets were considered in the budget, but were ultimately not included – despite the area being council leader Jane Meagher’s own ward.
Green councillor Allys Mumford spoke out in last week’s council meeting, citing numerous emails from residents complaining of “human faeces found in Portobello”.
With the yearly influx of summer tourists steadily approaching, the need for facilities in Portobello is more pressing than ever
The council state they are investing more than £1m on new toilets in other areas of the city, however, including The Meadows, Leith Links, and Inverleith.