New toilet in National Park

‘Changing Places’ toilet opens in National Park

 

 

25 July 2023

 

 

 

People with physical and learning disabilities will find the Yorkshire Dales National Park more welcoming and accessible, owing to the opening of a spacious new public toilet in the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes.

 

 

Campaigner Debbie North posed on the loo alongside the National Park Authority’s Access and Recreation Officer Rachel Briggs to celebrate the first ‘Changing Places’ toilet in the National Park (see picture).

 

 

 

A Changing Places toilet is a step up from a standard ‘Disabled Toilet’. It contains extra equipment and space to allow people with profound learning disabilities, as well as people with physical disabilities such as spinal injuries, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis, to use the toilet safely and comfortably.

 

 

 

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, which runs the museum, worked with the former Richmondshire District Council to secure Changing Places grant funding of £39,200 from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to make the project possible.

 

 

 

The writer and motivational speaker, Debbie North, who runs the website Access the Dales, said: “It’s absolutely brilliant that we’ve got this facility. Hawes is in the centre of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, so it’s a perfect location.

 

 

 

“People will now start planning a visit to the National Park, knowing this facility is here. Before, although there are public toilets in the National Park, there was nothing like this. It’s such a big bonus.

 

“You are going to get people coming into the National Park now to see what it’s all about and to explore accessible Hawes. The toilet is here in a museum, which is wheelchair accessible as well as autism and dementia friendly. There’s the Creamery in Hawes which is also wheelchair accessible. You’ve got a beautiful walk on a stretch of the Pennine Way. And hopefully Access The Dales is going to have an all-terrain wheelchair in Hawes within weeks, so we’re making this a really accessible little market town.”

 

Member Champion for Corporate Management at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Julie Hutton, said: “Thank you to everyone who has been involved in getting this fantastic new facility into our museum. People don’t have to pay a museum admission charge to come in and use the Changing Places toilet; it’s free to use. The toilet is by an entrance which is on the same level as our car park.

 

“Next year we are planning to open a Changing Places toilet by our visitor centre in Grassington, too. Along with the great work being done by local hospitality businesses, and that being done by Highways Authorities, as well as our rangers to improve surfaces and gates on rights of way, we are making the Yorkshire Dales National Park accessible to all.”

 

The Changing Places toilet will be open at the same time as the Dales Countryside Museum is open; for most of the year the museum is open between 10am to 5pm, seven days a week.

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

 

 

Images: ‘Debbie North and Rachel Briggs in the new Changing Places toilet in the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes.’

 

 

 

For more information, please contact the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Media Officer Andrew Fagg (Andrew.Fagg@yorkshiredales.org.uk) or Communications Manager Mark Sadler (Mark.Sadler@yorkshiredales.org.uk).

 

 

 

1. The Yorkshire Dales National Park is one of 15 National Parks in the UK. It is administered by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, which has two main purposes: “to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage” and “to promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the National Park”. In carrying out these purposes, the Authority has a duty “to seek to foster the economic and social well being of local communities”. The National Park Authority comprises 25 members, made up of county and district councillors and members appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment to represent parishes or in recognition of their specialist skills or knowledge.

 

 

 

2. All of our work is guided by the vision for the future of the National Park set out in the Yorkshire Dales National Park Management Plan: “Through their passion for this special place, local people and businesses will keep the Yorkshire Dales National Park a thriving area. Its unique cultural landscape will be treasured for its stunning scenery, exceptional heritage and wonderful wildlife, and every year millions of people will be inspired to be a part of it.” www.yorkshiredalesmanagementplan.org.uk