Published on: 19/07/18
Changing Places has produced a report summarising some of the key activity of the last 12 months.
It said: “At the local level, we’ve made great progress on installations. Over 100 new Changing Places toilets have been registered across the UK over the last 12 months and this is largely thanks to the tireless hard work of campaigners across the UK.
“This included some really fantastic strategic locations like train stations, airports and hospitals, as well as fun family venues for days out.”
Meanwhile, at the national level, the consortium has created stronger links with the Scottish and UK governments and says it is “advancing toward our goal to have Changing Places toilets introduced as a mandatory requirement within building regulations”.
Internationally, New Zealand and Spain both opened their first Changing Places toilets and Ireland set up its own Changing Places campaign. Meanwhile, the campaigns in Australia, Germany and the USA continue to strengthen.
A way to go
The campaign has detailed data on registered Changing Places toilets and looked at this to find out where the gaps in provision are.
It found that there is still a long way to go with facts including:
- Cities and large towns including Salford, Luton, Stockton-on-Tees, Gloucester and Sale have no registered Changing Places toilets.
- Out of more than 2,500 train stations in the UK, just 12 have a registered Changing Places toilet – less than 0.5%.
- Only 17 pubs, restaurants or cafés across the whole UK have registered Changing Places toilets.
- Less than 20% of motorway service stations provide Changing Places toilets.
- Just 50 hospitals in the UK have a Changing Places toilet.
What next?
The consortium wants to see a minimum of one Changing Places toilet in every town in the UK.
It’s continuing to lobby for changes in existing legislation so that Changing Places toilets become a mandatory requirement in all large new builds.
As well as promoting the awareness day and the consortium’s work on Twitter and/or Facebook it suggests sending a letter to your local newspaper editor highlighting the importance of Changing Places toilets (using local data).
It is also asking people to ‘Tweet your MP’ to support last month’s Ten Minute Rule Bill that was presented in Parliament by Paula Sherriff MP calling for certain buildings to provide these facilities.
To check where your local Changing Places toilets are, use this map.
