In response to your editorial ( Public spaces need public conveniences, 24 April ), our research has found that one of the biggest barriers preventing the restoration of existing provision or building new provision of public toilets is our wider cultural taboo of bodily functions. Time and again we have found that regeneration documents refer to public toilets as “amenities”, “necessities”, or “facilities”. Our research has also found that while large percentages of the UK population want more public toilets, nearly the same percentage would not use a public toilet, because of the taboo reputation such provision also carries. It is not simply a question of “build them and they will be used”. There is also an education issue, to highlight how important provision is, and shift the sense of a dirty and unloved space that invites negative behaviours such as vandalism. Provision has to be accessible to users of all ages and abilities, but also durable.…