FUNDING means severely disabled people can now spend a penny at two new locations in Stratford district.
Stratford District Council is opening two new Changing Places toilets – at Bell Court Shopping Centre in Stratford and the British Motor Museum in Gaydon.
It is after £190,000 of government funding was awarded to install the specially kitted out facilities to help improve lives of severely disabled residents.
SDC is one of 64 local authorities across the country to have secured the funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to install Changing Places toilets.
It consists of £7million government funding to build 120 new Changing Places toilets in England where they are most needed as part of the wider Changing Places scheme worth £30.5 million. The scheme is providing more than 600 new facilities, bringing the total of Changing Places toilets across England to 1,900.
SDC’s environmental spokesperson Coun Lorraine Grocott said: “We are very proud that we have been able to install a Changing Places toilet in Bell Court and at the Motor Museum, as it will enable disabled people, their families, friends and carers to visit the facilities with dignity and increased confidence that suitable toilets are available.
Changing Places are toilet facilities for people with profound and multiple disabilities.
They are fitted with specialist equipment such as a hoist and changing bench. They provide sufficient space for up to two carers to support the person with a disability to use the Changing Place.
These toilet facilities will ensure that people with severe disabilities and their families or carers will not have to worry about whether there are suitable toilet facilities when they go out shopping, plan a day out or travel.
Elizabeth Dixon, who runs Accessible Stratford, added: “I am very pleased that there is now a Changing Places toilet in the town centre at Bell Court in addition to the existing one at the Leisure Centre. This is an important and very necessary facility for many people with a mix of disabilities. It is good that the government recognised the need and provided the funding to Stratford District Council. I assisted with the application through to its completion. Thanks to everyone who assisted me to get this done.”
Both facilities have now been registered and are available on the Changing Places Toilets website at https://www.changing-places.org/
