Whether as a symbol of civic pride, hygiene horror story, welcome stop-off or costly inconvenience, the public loo holds a peculiar power to provoke debate. But last night public lavatories, or rather the lack of them, provoked the unlikeliest of rows.

A government plan to safeguard the “great British loo” was said to presage the end for the dwindling number of free conveniences. After a sharp decline in public toilets, from a high of 15,000 to 5,500 now, ministers announced a campaign to transform access and availability.

Under the fanfare “all cisterns go”, the Department for Communities and Local Government called on councils to adopt “pioneering new approaches” to increase access to public lavatories. Guidance calls for “community toilet schemes”, with authorities paying businesses such as shops, pubs and bars to let the public use their facilities. Signs will be displayed in their windows advertising availability.

It is hoped that the initiative will end “bladder leash” – which leaves people tethered by how far they can travel, and for how long, because of the lack of toilets. But while better provision might be considered an area for political consensus, that broke down swiftly when the Conservatives noted that the guidance would allow councils to levy “reasonable charges” for use of toilets and urinals they own.

Announcing the initiative, the department wistfully recalled the heyday of the public lavatory 150 years ago when it was seen as the key to good public health and the chance to promote “leading edge architecture”.

Ministers say that the new approach will save money and businesses will benefit from extra trade. Poor toilet provision in towns and city centres is contributing to antisocial behaviour through “street fouling”, they added.

The guide says that council-owned conveniences should be the mainstay of provision, but innovative approaches are needed. These include wider use of the “SatLav” scheme used by Westminster Council to send texts to people about the nearest public toilet.

Baroness Andrews, the Communities Minister, said: “For decades, the provision of good municipal facilities was a matter of considerable civic pride. But for many years we seem to have gone backwards. We need to reverse this decline.”

Councils are encouraged to lever more money from developers for toilet provision through the planning system, such as in Brent, where £700,000 was secured for facilities at six sites as part of planning agreements for the new Wembley.

The number of public lavatories has halved in a decade, according to the British Toilet Association, and is likely to drop further. The group welcomed the initiatives for use of business loos as formalising what went on already. “We all run into the nearest pub if we get short don’t we,” an official said.

But Eric Pickles, the Conservative local government spokesman, said that ministers had in effect announced the end of free conveniences because town halls could not charge for the use of urinals.

Gordon Brown was dragged into the row as the Tories revealed that a new gents’ was being installed in No 10. They referred to a “secret” planning application lodged with Westminster City Council for loos in the “First Lord’s Residence”. Mr Brown is First Lord of the Treasury.

Mr Pickles said that Labour was ripping up the Public Health Act that force councils to provide free conveniences. This would lead to widespread charging for public toilets, even though these are supposed to be funded from council tax. The Government had stated that the regulations would provide a “valuable revenue stream”.

Going public

— Toilets at the Trafford Centre in Manchester were named 2007 Loo of the Year

— The local authority trophy went to West Wiltshire District Council

— There are 5,500 public lavatories in Britain

— The average person visits the lavatory 2,500 times a year

— The first stall in a public toilet is the least likely to be used, and cleanest

— Most toilets flush in the key of E flat

Source: Times database

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