He Plans To Convert His Appartment

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Man's public toilet conversion opposed

A Chinese man's proposal to convert his own apartment into a public rest room has had to be shelved because of fierce opposition from his neighbours

Residents of the downtown Jinjiang District of the southwestern city of Chengdu were stunned when a resident known only as Mr He told the property department of his community that he wanted to turn his 110-square metre first floor apartment into a public washroom to cater to the needs of large crowds of passersby in the area.

Mr He told the Xinhua news agency: "There are not enough public toilets in this area and I often see people relieve themselves stealthily in the far corners of the community. It's a disgrace and is bad for the environment.

"It won't bring any inconvenience to my neighbours, if I can get the green light from the property department allowing me to fill up doors and windows with concrete and open a door directly onto the street."

Mr He estimated about 2,000 people could use his rest room per day and hoped he could add to his monthly income of about £66 per month by earning an equivalent of £26 per day.

However his neighbours went against the plan out of fear that the entire building would stink.

A resident of the second floor said: "How can he make sure the place is clean and tidy - most public toilets are so stinky you can smell it already several meters away"

Though his plan has been written off by local city planning officials as "basically unworkable" they agreed with him to some extent.

A city planning official said: "After all, we have to take into consideration what those in the community felt. Besides, no one has ever done this before"