New Changing Places toilet facilities installed at accessible play area

Two Changing Places toilet facilities have been installed alongside an accessible play area at a water park in Warwickshire to enhance accessibility for visitors with disabilities.

Changing Places toilets provide people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, as well as people with other physical disabilities such as spinal injuries, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis, with extra equipment and space to allow users to use the toilets safely and comfortably.

Local resident Chad Williams recently visited Kingsbury Water Park and had the following to say about the Changing Places facilities: “I was very impressed with the disabled toilet at Kingsbury Water Park.

“This toilet is very spacious giving you complete room to manoeuvre and turn around in your wheelchair. There are many features including a height adjustable sink so you can get your chair underneath. There’s a shower, a remote-control height adjustable changing bed so you can get changed, and a track hoist which will enable you to transfer out of your wheelchair.

“This disabled loo at Kingsbury Water Park definitely gets the thumbs up from me. All of the wheelchair accessible toilets in the country should be designed like this.”

Kingsbury Water Park, alongside other Warwickshire Country Parks such as Ryton Pools, provides a great option for those with accessibility needs wishing to explore nature along the many miles of well-maintained and surfaced pathways.

In addition to the new Changing Places facilities, accessible playground equipment has been installed, including a new wheelchair swing, sensory area and easy-access swings, which all help to make the park and playground a more inclusive and fun space for all.

Installation of the new facilities was made possible thanks to a £10,000 contribution by the Friends of Kingsbury Water Park. The money was raised in-part through the sale of bags of duck food during the lockdown period. The duck food offers a healthier option for the aquatic birds than the bread that is often fed to them.

Councillor Heather Timms, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Climate and Culture at Warwickshire County Council, said: “Spending time in the great outdoors is a wonderful way to boost both mental and physical health and wellbeing and experience some of our unique wildlife along the way.

“Warwickshire’s Country Parks are some of the County’s best assets and every effort should be made to ensure that everyone is able to enjoy their beauty.”