Barcelona plans 150 new self-cleaning accessible public toilets

A Barcelona City Council committee has approved plans to install 150 accessible public toilets across the city.

The proposal was put forward by left-wing Barcelona en Comú, who argue that the availability of public toilets is "very limited" and mainly concentrated in popular tourist areas.

On the other hand, Barcelona neighborhoods with higher numbers of vulnerable residents have very few public toilets available, the party says.

Expanding the network, they argue, would lead to "better public hygiene and improved civic coexistence."

BComú councillor Jordi Rabassa said that if people are to be fined for relieving themselves in the street, they must first be offered an alternative place to do so.

"Issuing fines without offering alternatives reflects a model that is not preventive," Rabassa said. "It reflects a punitive approach."

The council's security committee approved the proposal, which now requires the city to present a plan within three months to add at least 150 self-cleaning, accessible public toilets, evenly distributed across Barcelona.

Priority will be given to districts and neighborhoods with higher concentrations of vulnerable people, or where public sanitary infrastructure is most lacking.

The proposal was supported by pro-independence parties Junts and Esquerra Republicana (ERC), as well as far-right Vox.