A new Changing Places toilet will be created in the Harrogate district after the council was awarded funding for the project.
Harrogate Borough Council has been given £40,000 to deliver the facility, which offers specially adapted facilities for people in wheelchairs and with very limited mobility.
The funding is part of a national £23.5m investment from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It will see the total number of Changing Places toilets across England increase from 1,300 to more than 1,800.
They are expected to be installed in public parks, tourist attractions, museums, art galleries, cathedrals, shopping centres, libraries and other public buildings.
Ministerial disability champion Eddie Hughes MP said:
“People with severe disabilities and their families or carers should not have to think about whether there are suitable toilet facilities when they go out shopping, plan a day out or travel.
“That is why it is great to hear that our funding will help provide over 500 new Changing Places toilets in England enabling them to go about day-to-day activities like the rest of the population with more dignity and freedom.“
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Changing Places toilets feature adaptations including hoists and changing benches. They also have enough space to move wheelchairs around all the furniture and for carers to support people using the room.
There are existing Changing Places facilities at Harrogate and Starbeck libraries, the Hydro, Morrison’s and the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate. In Knaresborough, they have been installed at Gracious Street Methodist Church, Knaresborough Pool and Henshaws Arts and Craft Centre.
There are no city centre facilities in Ripon, but there is a Changing Places toilet at Lightwater Valley theme park.
The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate Borough Council where the new facility would be installed, but had not received a response at the time of publication.