Edinburgh residents say parts of Portobello smell like 'an open sewer' as public toilets remain closed despite crowds flocking to beach

Demand for toilets to reopen

High temperatures have brought large numbers of people to the beach Photo: Getty images

PARTS of Portobello have been left smelling “like an open sewer” because people flocking to the beach have nowhere to go to the toilet, say residents.

Recent hot weather has attracted crowds to the seafront as lockdown restrictions are eased.

But public loos across the Capital remain closed and unlikely to open for at least another two weeks.

It has left people in Portobello hoping for rain so the crowds stay away.

James MacPherson, 48, of Portobello High Street, said: “Belfield Street absolutely stinks. It smells like an open sewer. I guess we know now what it must have been like to live in Edinburgh in the old gardyloo days.

“As soon as the sun comes out, there are huge crowds of people and no public toilets.

“I don’t know why they don’t just go in the sea, but most of them don’t, they go to the streets nearby where people live and do it there. It is horrendous.

“It’s a real God-send when it rains.”

Callum Laidlaw, Conservative councillor for Portobello/Craigmillar, said he had been campaigning for the public toilets to be reopened.

“People are going to the beach, there are no facilities, none of the cafes and bars are open, so people are using either the lanes off the beach or going to where the public toilets are and just going to the toilet there even though they can’t go inside.

“I’ve been down there, I’ve seen both number ones and number twos. It’s particularly unpleasant. The council has done what it can to do some clean-ups but they have been few and far between and the patience of residents is running out.”

There have been complaints from people in other parts of the city as well, including Leith Links and close to the Meadows, where crime write Ian Rankin was among those dismayed by large numbers of people urinating in public.

A motion was agreed by councillors on June 11 calling for a report on the reopening of public toilets and it had been hoped it would have been ready for consideration last week, but it now not due until July 9.

The council has said there is no guidance from the Scottish Government on the issue.

But Cllr Laidlaw said: “Public toilets are open in the rest of the UK and other European countries, there are guidelines put out down south and customer toilets are open in supermarkets and garden centres, so I see no reason why, with mitigation measures in place, you can’t open public toilets in Portobello.”

He said regular cleaning and hand sanitiser would be needed and the lay out of some toilets was better than others for physical distancing.

“The Pipe Lane toilets in Portobello have a layout where you could have an entry and exit - it has two access points - and that would seem to be the obvious thing.

“And in gents toilets you could perhaps not have the urinals operational so people were in cubicles.

“Lots of other places have already implemented these measures, Edinburgh council is just one step behind.”

He said public toilets ought to be open by the time beer gardens are allowed to open on July 6.

“There are public toilets on the south coast of England that have been open, with mitigation measures, all through the lockdown period.

“I’m not saying every toilet in Edinburgh has to be open but certainly those in areas where there is an issue - and in Portobello there’s a significant issue.”

Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon said she felt “enormous” relief at the latest figures issued yesterday showing no new coronavirus deaths for a third day.

The statistics also showed eight more people tested positive for the virus and 452 people are in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19.

The First Minister made her comment on social media, adding it was vital that people continued to follow the rules as the figures improved.

She said: “Three days in a row with no registered Covid deaths in Scotland. The sense of relief that I – & I’m sure all of us – feel as these numbers fall is enormous.

“But it’s coupled with an anxiety that we do all we can to keep Covid under control. So please follow the rules and #StaySafe.”

And a public health expert in the Capital said Scotland could eliminate coronavirus by the end of the summer if the decline in new cases continues.

Professor Devi Sridhar, of Edinburgh University, said if the number of people testing positive remained low and those people could be traced and their contacts isolated then “I think for me that’s pretty much a Covid-free Scotland”.

She said: “At that point the risk to people’s daily lives becomes negligible. I think Scotland is on track to eliminate coronavirus by the end of the summer by looking at the rate of the decrease [in new cases]. But we are going to see little bumps, so it’s a question of how small can you keep those bumps.”

Prof Sridhar, who sits on the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 advisory group, said the “biggest challenge” would be how to manage the importation of new cases.

“If Scotland was an island like New Zealand I would say going for zero cases would be completely feasible,” she said.

But she acknowledged an open border with England - where hundreds of cases are still being reported daily - was a concern.

“Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are trying to work together on a memorandum of understanding, or a plan [regarding their border]. Such a plan would be optimal, but that’s for the politicians to work out.”

She said July was a crucial month for people to follow the rules and guidance and be sensible.

“The virus is still around and can still increase quite fast within days and weeks.”