Residents are urged to air their views about loos in a campaign to reopen the borough's public toilets.

Wind-up radio inventor Trevor Baylis OBE is raising a stink over the lack of public toilets, which he believes is a hazard to public health.

The Twickenham resident said: "I've been shouting and screaming about this for a long time. Thousands of people come to this borough at weekends to eat and drink. What goes in must come out. I have seen people defecating in the river - think of the diseases that causes."

Richmond upon Thames Council currently operate a community toilet scheme, where 70 local pubs, cafes and restaurants will allow members of the public to use their toilets. One third of these have disabled access.

Mr Baylis said the scheme is no substitute: "How is a disabled person going to get up the stairs of McDonalds? And what about pregnant women and people who have conditions where they need to take a pee every couple of hours?"

Fining people for urinating in the streets is also unfair because of the lack of facilities open in the evening according to Trevor: "You could be done for indecent exposure, but all you are is a bloke trying to relieve yourself."

Trevor has issued a challenge to Richmond University students to devise a way to revitalise Twickenham's derelict Water Lane toilets. He hopes designs will include solar panels and swipe card entry systems installed in the borough's disused facilities.

Coun Martin Elengorn, cabinet member for environment, said: "We have had to think very carefully about our priorities for spending our limited funds. Areas such as education, youth services, care of the elderly and environmental services to combat global warming are the real priorities of this council. Government funding makes no provision for public toilets."

"It also needs to be recognised that old-fashioned public toilets are prohibitively expensive to maintain and regarded as unsafe by the public especially as they often act as a magnet for antisocial behaviour."

If you can help with Trevor's campaign, call Helen on 0208 8911 151.