Kingston Council spent £13,400 making one toilet block gender neutral, it has been revealed.
The Liberal Democrats-run council decided to make the block at Latchmere Recreation Ground in south London gender-neutral, as revealed in a freedom of information request conducted by The Telegraph.
This news follows a recent Supreme Court ruling affirming that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex, marking a significant judgement.
This means transgender women are now set to be barred from female bathrooms and sport.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, stated on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there is no legal prohibition against organizations offering a third space, such as unisex toilets or changing rooms, alongside existing facilities.
Asked about the risk that trans people will no longer be allowed to use facilities designed for either male or female, she said trans rights organisations should push for more neutral third spaces to accommodate trans people.
‘There isn’t any law saying that you cannot use a neutral third space, and they should be using their powers of advocacy to ask for those third spaces’, she said.
But several politicians have pointed out that adding a requirement to install gender neutral bathrooms risks adding more pressure on taxpayers.
Kingston Council spent £13,400 making one toilet block gender neutral, The Telegraph reports
Pictured: Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, and MP whose constituency covers Kingston council
Kingston Council headquarters
Shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, Kevin Hollinrake, said Kingston council’s lavatory block conversion was ‘a flagrant disregard for the priorities of hard-working people’.
‘The Liberal Democrat-run Kingston council squandered £13,000 of taxpayers’ money on gender-neutral toilet conversions, all while imposing a five per cent council tax hike, making Kingston the most expensive borough in London’, he added.
Meanwhile, Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire Greg Smith, slammed the council for spending ‘taxpayers’ cash on potty schemes’.
A Liberal Democrat Spokesperson said: ‘This is breathtaking hypocrisy from the Conservatives whose own government and councils also had to bring in gender neutral toilets.
‘People won’t forgive the Conservatives for crashing the economy and adding thousands of pounds to their mortgages.’
MailOnline has approached Kingston Council for comment.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey was criticised back in 2023 after he said women could ‘clearly’ have a penis during a debate over trans rights.
Sir Ed was asked for his views on the issue as he took part in a wide-ranging radio phone-in.
A caller named Mary asked him on LBC to explain ‘what is a woman’, saying she was a tactical voter asking ‘on behalf of 51 per cent of the population’.
Sir Ed told her ‘the vast majority of people whose biological sex is a woman when they were birth (sic), they feel they’re women… but there’s this very small number of people who don’t feel like that’.
It comes after the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday ruled that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex in a landmark judgement
Presenter Nick Ferrari then twice asked: ‘Can a woman have a penis?’ Eventually, the Lib Dem leader replied: ‘Well, quite clearly.’
Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said: ‘Once again we see how out of touch the Liberal Democrats are when faced with basic questions of common sense. It just goes to show the danger that a coalition with Labour would bring, with what is effectively the anti-women alliance.’
