Sutton Council has asked leisure operator Everyone Active to review its procedures after complaints that men are washing their genitals in communal showers at Westcroft Leisure Centre in front of women and children.
Councillor Nick Mattey said he has received multiple separate complaints about the poolside showers at the Sutton Council-owned centre in Carshalton, which have been in place since 2013. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "You have people going in there facing women and children and giving their genitals a good washing."
Mothers complain about lack of privacy
The complaints came from mothers who attended the pool with their children. "Can you imagine you are taking a five-year-old kid in there and you have got some bloke with masses of lather?" Cllr Mattey said.
The issue had "caused a really big stink," he said, but could be easily resolved by the council and its leisure operator, Everyone Active.
Mother calls design 'poor'
The LDRS spoke to one Wallington mother who learned to swim at Westcroft and now takes her children for family swims at the pool. The woman, who asked not to be named, said: "There are often some elderly gentlemen there who pull their shorts down and wash their privates. It's just about people feeling uncomfortable, and it's not good for young people either."
She said she understood why some people chose to do their "daily wash" there, given the cost-of-living crisis and rising water bills, and also understood people wanting to clean off chlorine after a swim. However, she said privacy should be an option in the communal shower area, pointing to nearby Waddon Leisure Centre, where swimmers can use separate private showers.
"That way you have the privacy and you're not exposing yourself," she added.
The mother, who said some of her friends had also made similar complaints, said she believed the issue was one of "poor design" rather than down to individual behaviour.
