Gender neutral toilets near children’s play area raise safety concerns

Local residents have criticised Brentwood Borough Council for forcing boys and girls to share the same toilet facilities in a £7m upgrade at a local park.

The Council’s decision to install only gender neutral toilets in the new pavilion at King George’s Playing Field has been described as unsafe for children and ill-thought-out.

Last year, the Government announced that separate male and female toilets would become a requirement in public buildings under future planning law.

Failing children

According to MailOnline, each of the eight gender neutral toilets, which are near to the pavilion’s two-storey soft play area for children, display signage of a man holding hands with a woman.

One mother told the news website: “How many gender-neutral children does the council think are going to be using the soft play ball pit?”

Another woman, who said she was a safeguarding officer, said: “I have a problem with the mixed toilets. They are not in the best interests of children.”

Commenting online, a concerned parent asked: “Lots of kids go to the parks there with their friends, no parents with them, where’s the safety in that?”

Safeguarding issues

Safety concerns have also been raised by parents over the National Citizen Service (NCS) policy to provide mixed-sex accommodation for teenagers at its summer camp.

The organisation, launched by David Cameron and largely funded by the Government, allows boys who claim to be girls to share female dorms and wash facilities.

NCS claimed it took safeguarding of its 16 and 17-year-old campers “incredibly seriously”, but parents criticised the youth service for promoting transgender ideology and exposing children to the risk of sexual exploitation.

Safer Schools Alliance UK described the policy as “contrary to safeguarding and basic common sense” and said it raised “the possibility of sexual harassment, assault and/or pregnancy”.