A new fully accessible toilet facility has opened in Page Park which has been welcomed by organisations that support people with disabilities.
South Gloucestershire Council secured £52,000 Changing Places Grant funding with £20,000 additional funding from the Friends of Page Park towards the new Changing Places Toilet which will include special equipment such as a hoist, curtains and more space for carers. A further £40,000 from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) helped provide another accessible toilet and one with baby changing facilities in the newly-designed toilet block.
The work has seen the original Page Park toilet block – which closed in 2017 when the new café/community room and toilets opened – completely transformed. The café toilets were opened as part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund restoration project.
Work on another Changing Places facility in Grimsbury Farm has also been completed. Further facilities are being built in Bradley Stoke Active Centre.
Changing Places Toilets feature a host of extra facilities for disabled people and those who need them the most. The facilities include special equipment such as hoists, curtains and adult-sized changing benches, and feature more space than standard accessible toilets to accommodate carers.
The Changes Places Toilets have been delivered with support from Muscular Dystrophy UK (MDUK).
Councillor Sean Rhodes, cabinet member for communities and local place at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “I am delighted to see these new accessible toilets open for use. We want to make our parks and open spaces available to everyone, and having accessible toilets and facilities that meet everyone’s needs are important to enable all visitors to spend time in the area.
“Thanks to the Friends of Page Park for their contribution and involvement to make this possible.”
Steph Purser, Vice Chairman of the Friends of Page Park, said: “We are really, really pleased we can open this facility – we’ve been working towards this for a few years. We’ve put £20,000 towards this and local councillors have also contributed £40,000 of their CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) money. It will open up the park to more people and I thank South Glos Council for finding the rest of the money for this great project.”
The new toilets at Page Park are open from 8am to 7pm, April to September and 8am to 4pm October to March, seven days a week. A fob is required to open the Changing Places toilet and this will need to be obtained prior to first use and a short registration form completed, all available from the One Stop Shop, located at the Civic Centre, Kingswood. The personal fob can then be kept by the person who has signed for it.
A video of the opening is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyyZXZ9MuWY
