The Inconvenience Committee
editThis is a pressure group founded in 2005 by London professional Blue Badge tourist guides, with a view to influencing local councils within London to provide more, free, clean, attended public conveniences.
The Inconvenience Committee was established by Blue Badge guides from both professional guiding organisations - the Guild of Registered Tourist Guides (GRTG) and the union affiliated Association of Professional Tourist Guides (APTG). The Committee came into being as a direct response to Westminster Council privatising the public lavatories around Parliament Square, a World Heritage Site and popular first stop for tourists visiting London.
The Committee argued that tourists are often elderly, often have not had a chance to obtain British coinage and have arrived in London after extended travel by coach from docks or airports.
The Committee has also consistently challenged Westminster Council's claim to have more public conveniences per capita than any other local authority in London, as the Council makes no allowance for the passage through Westminster of visitors such as tourists.
Although unsuccessful in reversing the Council's decision to privatise the Parliament Square loos, the Committee claims some credit for the Council's decision to open a free public facility at Oxford Circus and in discouraging the City of London from privatising WCs within the jurisdiction of the Corporation of London.
The Inconvenience Committee has argued that the provision of free, plentiful and attended WCs and washrooms, is a major deterrent to the spread of pandemics, a threat to which London as a global crossroads and destination city, is particularly vulnerable. As such the Committee's philosophy echoes that of Professor Clara Greed, lecturer in planned urban environments, who seeks to place WCs and washing facilities at the heart of urban environments asaway of revitalising run-down and 'unfriendly' city centres.
Recently the Committee's initiative has suffered a set back with the arrival of the new Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who reverted to a policy already in place in London boroughs such as Kingston of employing local fast food providers to open their WCs to the passing public.
The Inconvenience Committee is made up of GTRG members Eileen Cox, Alison Bennett and APTG members Dr Ros Stanwell-Smith, Hugh Dickson, Simon Rodway and Adrienne Oddey.
http://www.blue-badge-guides.com/inconvenience.html