THE MEDIA seems to have been obsessed with the subject of toilets recently.

We had the lack of toilets in Farnworth, the closure or not of those at Barrow Bridge, the people demanding extra upstairs toilets to be put in their homes, the strange new urinals for women, in addition to the ever present moans about the toilets already in existence in the town centre.

The message in these reports does not seem to me to be consistent.

First we read that people "in this day and age" do not want to either trail downstairs to their own indoor toilets in the night, or use a chamber pot or bucket in the privacy of their bedrooms (unhygienic?). Then we read that it would be perfectly fine to have public conveniences provided, which consist of just a hole in the ground and a kind of open barrier around only part of it, (Brian Wood's letter which I had some difficulty in understanding -- from my experience the majority of visitors to France use the toilets in cafes and rarely enter those disgustingly dirty facilities provided in the streets).

My solution to the problem at Barrow Bridge would be to relocate there the superloos that are not wanted in Farnworth. This would ensure that only one person at a time could go into the toilet, a child could not walk in on someone else unexpectedly, and the fact that money is involved would ensure that they were checked on a regular basis.

Then, Farnworth should have large, up-to-date toilet blocks, built similar to those in the Trafford Centre. These should include disabled toilets, baby changing facilities, separate baby feeding rooms, and two or three attendants. Yes, it would be expensive, but it is what the people of Farnworth deserve. It must be more cost effective in the long term than paying out money to Asda in order that they will let the general public crowd into the toilets they have provided for their customers. It should also save on the town cleaning bill and lead to better health all round.

As to the female urinals (as seen on TV recently), I don't see how they would speed up the process, as claimed. The only way to make it quicker for women to go to the toilet is to build more cubicles in each block, thus preventing a queue developing.

As was pointed out at the time, more women than men go shopping, so it seems only fair that there should be more women's toilets than men's.

C A Wilson.

Milford Road

Great Lever

Bolton