Martin Beaumont, Facilities and CCTV Manager, Cambridge City Council, writes about Pee-Pods in the city (bear with us on this one, it will make sense).
One of the major complaints about anti-social behaviour in Cambridge city centre at night has been people out on the town going to the toilet in public. But before we are too critical we have to look at the situation from the revellersโ point of view. Most public toilets within the pubs and clubs area are closed by about 8pm. People out on the town may have had eight or more pints of beer and when the pubs and clubs close they are often waiting for a kebab or a taxi. This waiting time can be up to an hour if the queue for both.
If we add to this a cold January night and the reveller being in their normal clubbing kit – thin trousers and shirt, short skirt and no coat – you can understand why they are going to be desperate to use a toilet. The problem has been that there were none available in the area where the revellers congregated. Cambridge City Council carried out a detailed survey of the problem and discussed the issue with a number of partners including the CCTV system. We quickly identified the main areas of concern. However the issue of costs raised its head (as usual). We could not afford to put in permanent toilets.
Therefore portable toilets, called Pee-Pods, were identified. They are made of a strong plastic and have a collection tank for peopleโs waste. Most important of all, they are portable. So that they can be put in place in the evenings and removed and emptied the following morning. Each Pee-Pod has been sited within a CCTV cameraโs arc of observation so that we can stop vandalism and criminal damage.
We are trialling this system up to and including the New Year with the Pee-Pods being deployed to target areas at the weekend. Once the trial period is over we will assess their success. But so far so good.
