Cathedral loos ‘twinned’ with African toilets (From Worcester News)

Worcester Cathedral loos ‘twinned’ with African toilets

12:50pm Thursday 27th August 2009 in News By Jack Blanchard

NEW public toilets will open at Worcester Cathedral next week, helping out visitors to the city – and people on the other side of the world.

Work is almost complete on the new £400,000 toilet block in College Green along the cathedral’s south wall – which will be open to visitors and the wider public.

And, in an unusual twist, cathedral bosses have decided to “twin” the new toilets with three new loos they have paid for in Burundi, southern Africa, arranged through the charity CORD.

Cathedral steward Les West said: “Over 2.6 billion people – 40 per cent of the world’s population – are without a clean and safe place to go to the toilet, and every day 5,000 children under the age of five die needlessly from diarrhoeal diseases.

“It is good the cathedral can make a difference to people’s lives in other parts of the world at the same time as improving the facilities for visitors to the cathedral.’ The Worcester toilets are believed to be the first new public loos the city has seen in more than 50 years.

Worcester City Council has agreed to put £50,000 towards the scheme, which created considerable controversy when planning permission was agreed last year.

City council cabinet member Councillor David Tibbutt described the new toilets as “absolutely awful” and “totally out of keeping with the most important building in this city.” But other councillors said the new building was “appropriate” and an improvement on the temporary toilet block which stood outside the cathedral for many years.

The new toilets will be opened on Wednesday, September 2 by city MP Mike Foster, who is a Government minister for overseas aid with specific responsibility for sanitation issues l Anyone wishing to twin their own toilet at home or at work with a toilet in Burundi should visit toilettwinning. org or call 01926 315301.