London Fields residents call for public toilets to be left open until later as anti-social behaviour continues

People urinating in London Fields. Photograph: London Fields User Group

Park users are in despair over people using a popular Hackney green spot as a toilet.

The London Fields User Group (LFUG) said people are urinating and defecating in the park and criticised the council for closing public toilets there at 9pm.

The group, which helps to care for the park and runs weekly litter picks, said “overworked” enforcement officers were flat out on a recent Saturday night.

They said: “For every person spoken to, there’s been 10 urinating or defecating in the park.”

The group recently held a meeting with the council’s parks and enforcement team to discuss resources.

London Fields saw a huge problem in anti-social behaviour during the pandemic, when the biggest reported issue was people urinating and defecating outside.

LFUG said they lobbied the council to reopen the public toilets during the first lockdown.

In 2022, enforcement teams stopped 683 from urinating in the popular open space and dished out 117 fines, down from 1,308 cases in 2021.

In 2020, four council enforcement officers patrolled the park because of the rise in anti-social behaviour, including people playing loud music and lighting barbecues, which are banned in every Hackney park.

The user group said the problem is not helped because the “toilets close before 9pm, there’s one enforcement officer and several hundred people. Unacceptable but predictable. We don’t have a reporting system now either.”

They added “it’s a catch-22” because if the toilets stay open all night they get messy and are themselves then used for anti-social behaviour.

They said the non-emergency park patrol number was “no longer in use” and it needed patrols nearby to dissuade people from using the wooded areas as a toilet.

“The area we are meant to be rewilding is worst affected.”

Their concerns were taken up by cabinet member for parks Caroline Woodley, who said it is “so frustrating that this behaviour carries on”.

Community safety chief Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas said: “We have recently recruited six enforcement officers in addition to the core team of 28 existing officers, to help maintain London Fields and other parts of the borough over the summer months, when our outdoor spaces are busier.”

She said two enforcement officers are permanently based at London Fields and others can offer support “should the need arise”.

Cllr Fajana-Thomas said toilets across the council’s parks and open spaces shut at the same time in the evening. Closing times vary throughout the year but it is 30 minutes before the park shuts when staff finish their shift.

“This is to help prevent anti-social behaviour occurring in the absence of any staff member on site,” she said.