Public toilets start to reopen

East Lothian Council will begin opening a limited number of public toilets this weekend, with disabled facilities the first to come back into use.

The council said the disabled access facilities at its public loos would be available for use between 10am and 4pm from tomorrow (Saturday), at a number of sites.

The sites include:  Aberlady Bay Nature Reserve; Yellowcraig Beach;  Bayswell Road, Dunbar; John Muir Country Park;  Shore Road, Dunbar;  Skateraw Beach, Dunbar; Gullane Bents;  Longniddry Bents car parks 2 and 3;  Fisherrow Harbour, Musselburgh;  Quality Street, North Berwick;  Links Road, Port Seton;  Ayres Wynd, Prestonpans;  Whitesands Beach, Dunbar;  Neilson Park Road, Haddington; and Shorthope Street, Musselburgh.

A number of changes have been introduced by the council to help keep people safe, including a limit on the number of people in a toilet building at one time with the opening of the disabled access facilities only which provides a ‘one in, one out’ system.

Councillor Norman Hampshire, depute council leader, said: “We will be opening our public toilets in a phased approach over the coming weeks to make sure both the public and staff are kept safe.

“We know that this will be very welcome news not just to visitors but local residents who for health reasons, or with young families, rely on access to public toilets to be able to leave their homes.

“As only the single occupant disabled toilets are opening at this stage, we would like to advise visitors to please acknowledge priority use for people with disabilities.”

“With current physical distancing guidelines still in place, we cannot reopen the larger toilet facilities at this time.

“This is to maintain good hygiene standards and to minimise any potential spread of infection.

“We’re asking visitors and local residents to respect the facilities, which will be subject to daily checks and cleaning regimes in line with current Scottish Government guidelines.”