Community-led Action: Joanna’s Story of Shaping Coventry

Need The Loo
6 hours ago
3 min read

It started with a simple observation at a retirement village. People were staying home, not because they didn't want to be part of the city, but because they couldn't trust that they’d find a toilet when they got there.

Joanna is sharing the Need The Loo story with a mic in hand. A yellow sign behind says "We are giving people a toolkit to make change happen."

What began as a local listening session quickly unravelled into a much larger story about health, isolation and basic human rights. This is the story local campaigner Joanna shared at the Connecting For Good event in April of how community-led action grew from a small group of neighbours into a city-wide movement that caught the attention of the BBC and the City Council.

The Hidden Crisis: Why we needed community-led action

This started with something really simple… but sadly overlooked. Through Connecting For Good listening sessions, two separate themes kept coming up. During UK City of Culture 2021, people were celebrating the city… but saying, “There’s nowhere to go to the toilet.” At the same time, at EP Retirement Village, residents were telling us they were avoiding going into town altogether, not because they didn’t want to be there, but because they didn’t know where toilets were or couldn’t rely on them.

And the more we listened, the bigger the issue became. We heard about the need for sanitary bins in all types of toilets, both male and female, stoma-friendly spaces… the impact of prostate cancer… the importance of gender-neutral toilets… and more recently, dementia-friendly signage. We saw Coventry championing Changing Places toilets but a lack of knowledge by the public about them. What we thought was a simple issue… turned into something much bigger—about dignity, health, and isolation.

A table with markers and notes on toilet standards. A sign reads "Need the Loo." People are writing and discussing nearby.

Breaking the Taboo through community-led action

We weren’t experts. Just a group of “secular do-gooders.” For me personally, this wasn’t even a direct need. But when I start something… I like to see it through on behalf of the community. We made a choice: despite being a small group to give it a go anyway and to make a difference. Raise awareness and break down taboos. Support those who lacked a voice. To keep listening. To keep connecting and to keep our local Councillors in the loop.

That led us to people with lived experience… to partnerships with Age UK… and even conversations with the London Loo Alliance last month, who told us we were trailblazing. From the start we had been trying to speak with the council… trying to find leverage. But progress was slow. At times, it felt like we were hitting a brick wall.

Creating Urgency: Lighting Up the City

So, we decided we needed to create urgency. We used World Toilet Day as a deadline—something to bring energy, visibility, and pressure. And it worked. We lit up the city for the night. We appeared on BBC News. We discovered that moment helped everything click into place.

Night scene of Coventry with a large blue-lit sculpture in a city square. Buildings and lights in the background are lit up with blue lighting for world toilet day.

At that event, Patricia Hetherton from the Council shared that she’d been trying for years to get this issue higher on the agenda and was grateful that local people were now creating a platform for it. That’s when we realised the support was already there. We just hadn’t fully seen it yet.

Real Wins and Future Moves

Litter bin with orange stripe sign showing directions to Central Library Toilets (3 mins) and West Orchards toilets (5 mins). The sticker also shows where the accessible toilets are.

From there, things started to move. We connected more deeply with the Street Services team… mapped gaps in signage… and co-designed practical solutions like clearer signposting and bin posters. We also saw funding wins, like Central Methodist Hall Coventry, improving their facilities, powered by people’s stories and reference to our Bog Standards.

As a small group, we’ve come a long way. And now we know, we have support inside the council and word is spreading about what still needs to happen in Coventry to make provision and access even better.

Your Turn to Step Up

But this was never just about toilets. It’s about whether people feel able to leave their homes… or whether something as basic as a toilet keeps them isolated. Feeling too embarrassed to ask for what is a basic right. So, here’s where we are. We’ve built momentum. We’ve built relationships and we know the support is there.

But we need more people to help turn that support into real, visible wins. More people with energy. Skills. Lived experience and a willingness to speak up. Because this city belongs to all of us.

So, this is the moment we need you to: Step up. Speak out. Shape Coventry.