Whitby, Scarborough and Filey to get new toilets as part of £280,000 project

Members of the authority’s cabinet voted unanimously in favour of the plan to increase the number of changing places toilets at a meeting on Tuesday, November 15.

Scarborough Council will allocate £120,000 of funding while £160,000 will come from a Government grant for creating the changing places facilities which are for the “exclusive use of people with profound disabilities”.

They differ from traditional accessible cubicles “in that they are larger and have additional equipment” which includes a height-adjustable adult changing bench and basin and an electrically operated hoist.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Carl Maw, the cabinet member for communities and housing, said: “It’s not a person’s ailment that often excludes them from society, it is the obstacles around them that is the problem.”

Cllr Maw welcomed the plans and also called on local businesses to improve their accessibility provisions.

He said: “It is grossly unfair that people with profound disabilities have struggled to come to our town and enjoy it.”

Cllr Maw added that there are also financial benefits from improving accessibility, stating: “The purple pound in Britain is worth approximately £274bn a year, that’s the money and spending power of people with disabilities and their families.”

The changing places facilities are set to be located at Whitby Marina, Scarborough North Bay and Filey Foreshore. The locations have been chosen as the lack of suitable facilities nearby “currently acts as a significant barrier for changing places toilet users”.

Cllr Tony Randerson, the cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: “When I was invited to be the portfolio holder for neighbourhoods which includes the borough’s public conveniences, I was determined to reverse the previous administration’s policy of closing many of the borough’s public toilets by reopening and/or replacing and improving them.”

He added: “I am personally delighted with the end result of a number of toilet block refurbishments and they are indeed a credit to the borough.”

The cabinet also approved an exemption to the council’s contract procedure rules to allow the authority to procure the works required within this financial year.

The council has obtained a quote for the delivery of the Scarborough and Filey facilities from a local contractor which amounts to £144,000. For the Whitby scheme, the authority is proposing to purchase a modular building from Danfo for circa £57,000.