People will be reminded to use the toilet before leaving York’s pubs and bars as part of efforts to tackle street urination following the approval of new fines.
City of York Council’s executive was told the forthcoming campaign followed work to make more toilets available.
It comes as penalties of up to £100 for urinating and defecating in public come into force.
Council public protection lead Cllr Michael Pavlovic said he understood people’s concerns about the availability of public toilets in the city centre but there were few excuses for urinating publicly.
The executive approved a new public space protection order (PSPO) covering street urination, defecation, dog fouling and pet control offences at a meeting yesterday.
Around 83 per cent of 1,026 respondents back penalities for street urination and defecation in a consultation.
Almost 97 per cent and 92 per cent of respondents backed fines for dog fouling and control offences respectively.
It follows the 4,194 requests York BID received to clean urine from the city’s streets in the year up to March 2024.
The fines aimed to provide a more proportionate and cost-effective way of punishing offenders that avoid having to go through lengthy and costly court proceedings.
But serious or repeat offenders could still be prosecuted.
Lack of public loos
Many people in the consultation said a lack of public toilets were partly to blame for street urination.
They said there were few options for people once public toilets in the city close and those in shops, cafés, pubs and other businesses were typically reserved for their customers.
Many of the city’s public toilets are only open during the day and people are charged for using them.
The council’s environment lead Cllr Jenny Kent is working with businesses to make their toilets available to the public, the meeting heard.
It was hoped her efforts would also see toilets opened in late-night venues.
The executive also heard the council was set to ask pubs, clubs and bars to put up posters reminding people to use their toilets before leaving.
Labour public protection executive member Cllr Pavlovic said there was overwhelming public support for the new penalties.
He said provision of more toilets for people, particularly later in the day, was welcome.
Cllr Pavlovic said: “We understand people are concerned about public toilet facilities but there are very few excuses for urinating in public.”