New offices, schools, hospitals and shops must have separate single-sex toilets, the government will confirm this week, after a minister warned that children ‘avoid’ using gender-neutral toilets at the school.
Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch is leading proposals to prevent non-residential buildings from being built with ‘universal’ toilets as part of efforts to stop the ‘forced sharing of spaces’.
The plans, which were apparently quietly approved last month, will include changes to building and planning regulations to entrench separate stalls in new buildings and require partitions to be installed in current unisex facilities, reports The Telegraph.
This comes after Ms Badenoch warned last week that pupils avoid going to the toilet during school hours because they only have access to gender-neutral toilets.
She says it is legal and ‘important’ to provide single-sex spaces for men and women after allegations last year that women find it difficult to find single-sex facilities.
The plans are seen as a ‘common sense’ way to stop an increasing norm of gender-neutral toilets being built as the default option in new buildings.
Kemi Badenoch, Minister of Equality, leads plans to prevent non-residential buildings from being built with ‘universal’ toilets
Planning regulations will be rewritten as part of the plans. Pictured: Gender-neutral toilets at Wimbledon last week
In April, parents were furious after a £ 7 million children’s play area in Brentwood, Essex, was fitted with gender-neutral toilets.
And last week, new guidance told government officials that they should allow people who identify as transgender to use whatever single-sex toilet they want.
The National Trust has also been accused of pursuing an “awake” agenda after setting up gender-neutral toilets at Tredegar House in Newport, South Wales, when a woman walked in to find a man urinating without the door open. closed.
This comes after Robert Jenrick, former community secretary, outlined plans last year to rewrite planning regulations in favor of single-sex facilities.
A review of the issue was launched by Mr Jenrick’s department in November following several complaints about the way companies and authorities replaced single-sex toilets with gender-neutral facilities.
The change will reportedly apply to offices, shops and entertainment venues, plus hospitals and other public services. This will also apply to buildings undergoing refurbishment, where permission for the works is required.
Under the changes, buildings will have to separate men’s and women’s facilities, ensuring that women’s cubicles are completely self-sufficient, with basins and hand dryers, for privacy.
Gender-neutral toilets pictured at Wimbledon last week were allegedly built during the pandemic
NHS hospitals have spent more than £ 800,000 on gender-neutral toilets over the past four years
A sign on the toilet door of the cafe at Tredegar House in Newport, South Wales, reads: ‘Gender-neutral toilets. Alternative toilet facilities are available at the main car park ‘
Women’s rights groups have long argued that they are ‘harmed’ by gender-neutral toilets that contain both urinals and cubicles.
A government source told The Telegraph: ‘It is essential that women feel safe and comfortable when using public facilities and that there is a greater emphasis on provision focused on dignity, privacy, tolerance and respect for all. .
“These changes will stop the rise of ‘universal’ and forced sharing of spaces – with a focus on guaranteeing privacy for all.
“It’s a common sense approach that is inclusive for all.”
The Home Office, BBC, Channel 4 offices all have gender neutral facilities.
The Old Vic Theater has also scrapped and replaced its men’s and women’s toilets with ‘self-selection’ facilities that can be used by both sexes in October 2019.
But it is understood that ministers want the plans to apply to all new or redeveloped government buildings as well.
NHS hospitals have reportedly spent more than £ 800,000 on gender-neutral toilets over the past four years.
Data obtained by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) showed that nearly 740 new unisex toilets have been built or converted since 2018 – including during the Covid pandemic.
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, in Merseyside, alone has spent more than £ 586,000 on 63 gender-neutral toilets.