Edinburgh Council exploring £600,000 spend on new public toilets at Portobello Beach

Edinburgh councillors are exploring spending £600,000 to build new public toilets by Portobello Beach amid complaints over public defecation and urination at the pleasure spot.

There have been long-running concerns over conditions along Portobello’s beach and promenade, with local residents having to cope with beachgoers relieving themselves in gardens and public spaces near the foreshore.

New facilities are now being considered alongside plans to spend £550,000 to refurbish existing toilets at St Margaret’s and Victoria parks, and build a new set of toilets near Cramond Beach.

There are currently two sets of fixed public toilets near Portobello Beach – one directly abutting the foreshore at Pipe Lane, and the other on Bath Street north of the junction with Portobello High Street.

The proposed toilets would feature unisex cubicles, a changing places facility and baby changers, and would share design features with toilets currently being erected at the Meadows, Leith Links, Inverleith Park and Hawes Pier.

They would also have energy efficient lighting, water-saving fixtures and green roofs, in the interest of sustainability and environmental protection.

No site for the toilets is mentioned in the council report proposing the project, however the siting of temporary toilets at Straiton Place Park has drawn ire for their taking up of green space.

In addition to the toilets in Portobello, the proposal includes a spend of £450,000 to build new toilets near Cramond Beach, and £50,000 each for refurbishment of existing toilet facilities at St Margaret’s and Victoria parks.

The former public toilets near the eastern edge of the beach were closed in 2016, and let out by the council, now hosting a seafood restaurant.

It has toilets open to the public on-site, but visitors must be either 18 years of age or older to use them or be accompanied by someone who is, due to the premises containing a bar.

They were one of 10 toilet blocks closed in 2016 in hopes of saving £300,000, with another set of toilets nearby in Joppa also being shuttered.

Councillors will decide whether to proceed with the plans at a full council meeting on Thursday, February 20.