RESTAURANTS and shops should “grow up” and let the public use their lavatories, Phil Woolas, the Local Government Minister, said.

Mr Woolas was announcing a government strategy this week to shift responsibility for public conveniences to the private sector. He said that businesses should follow the example of McDonald’s, which had a reputation for allowing non-customers to use its facilities. “Why should they be the only ones,” he said. “And why does it have to be a furtive affair?”

Public lavatories have been in inexorable decline, with many attracting drug users and criminals. Nearly half have been shut in the past decade and researchers say that there are only 5,500 left. Ministers believe that the public are prepared to pay to use lavatories.

Mr Woolas told a conference of the British Toilet Association: “There is a fair amount of evidence to suggest that most people are willing to pay so long as the toilets are clean and safe. You only need to look at what has been done in railway stations to see that people are willing to pay.

“There could be a voluntary charge, perhaps. This works very well in some continental countries and has become part of the culture. Could we change the culture here?” Mr Woolas praised a scheme in Richmond upon Thames, in which the council pays maintenance to businesses that open their lavatories to the public.

The Government also plans to create a website giving the location of every lavatory open to the public, including those in service stations and fast-food outlets.

The association, which has funding from manufacturers such as Armitage Shanks, campaigns for better public lavatories. Its research shows that most are 50 to 100 years old, and 70 per cent are for men.

A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium said: “We believe local authorities, with the income they receive from business rates and council tax, are ultimately responsible for providing public access to toilet facilities.”

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