Residents have said they are avoiding going into Scarborough town centre because of a lack of public toilets.
A lack of toilet facilities in the town centre could be putting people off visiting the high street and negatively impacting local businesses, councillors have been warned.
The warnings about an absence of facilities come as the tourist season begins in earnest at the seaside town, which is celebrating its 400th anniversary as a resort town.
Speaking at a recent meeting of Scarborough Town Council, one resident said: “A community nurse, who is a friend of mine, said she is getting more and more patients actually saying they’re not coming into town, and that’s just so sad.
“It’s not that they can’t mobilise to come into town, they just can’t come into town because there are just no toilets that they can access easily.”
Earlier this month, Scarborough businesses were asked to make their toilets available to the public following concerns over a lack of facilities in the town centre.
A Community Toilet Initiative (CTI) proposed by Scarborough Town Council would provide “modest financial support, signage, and inclusion in promotional materials” to cafes, pubs, and shops that voluntarily make their toilet facilities available for public use.
In March, North Yorkshire Council said it had not been able to convince any local businesses to work with it to provide a public bathroom.
Speaking at the town council meeting, Mary, a Scarborough resident, added: “You can see the hordes of people coming off the train, going towards the beach, and you just feel sorry for them.”
Town councillors said they sympathised with the concerns but noted that “toilets are under the [responsibility of] North Yorkshire Council”.
They also encouraged residents to contact NYC’s chief executive, Richard Flinton, so that “something might happen quite quickly” as well as recommending that locals email their councillors on North Yorkshire Council.
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