Tomorrow evening (21 April) I’ll be making the following proposal to East Cambridgeshire District Council. I very much hope it will be supported by the District Council’s ruling group.

There is actually a Changing Places toilet in The Hive sports centre on the A10 near Ely. But it’s not been added to the national Changing Places map. Nor is it signposted on the appropriate page of the district council’s website. And of course if you’re in the middle of Ely on a day out, then having to pack everything up, drive to the other side of the A10, and negotiate with the staff on the entrance to let you in without charging you a fee is hardly convenient.

It would be great if we could do better than this.

This Council notes that:

• Not every Council owned or managed public toilet in East Cambridgeshire is accessible for people with disabilities.
• The Government has decided that large accessible toilets for severely disabled people—known as Changing Places toilets—will be made compulsory for large new buildings, such as shopping centres, supermarkets, sports and arts venues. The Changing Places interactive map at https://www.changing-places.org/find indicates that there is not a single Changing Places toilet in the whole of East Cambridgeshire, and that the nearest Changing Places toilets for residents of the district are at Eddington, Bar Hill, and Mildenhall. Furthermore East Cambridgeshire is the only district in Cambridgeshire for which no Changing Places grant funding was awarded by Government in March this year.
• The charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK is encouraging venues providing accessible toilets to install new signage—two standing figures and a wheelchair user with the words Accessible Toilet and the logo ‘Not every disability is visible’. This is to help stop stigma and discrimination towards people with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis and other invisible conditions. There have been instances nationally where such individuals using an accessible toilet have been accused by staff members of being ineligible to use them.

This Council believes that:

• Provision of good quality, accessible, well-signed public toilets is important not only as a human right, but also for its potential to attract tourists to East Cambridgeshire and enable East Cambridgeshire residents to enjoy the amenities of the district.
• Every public toilet should be accessible for people with disabilities.
• Severely disabled people and their families or carers should be able to spend time in public places confident that a Changing Places toilet is available within a reasonable enough distance not to curtail their visit.
• People with invisible disabilities should be able to use accessible toilets without fear of stigma or discrimination.

This Council resolves to:

• Review disability access to every public toilet provision in East Cambridgeshire, and where this is not in place draw up a plan for installation of disability access arrangements, or make arrangements to replace the toilet with one which can be adapted and which is within a reasonable distance from the inaccessible toilet.
• Engage with businesses and partner organisations across East Cambridgeshire to identify premises, regardless of ownership, where a Changing Places toilet could be installed; work with them to access Government grant or other funding; and ensure that any Changing Places toilets so installed are properly signposted for visitors.
• Ensure that existing public toilets are signed in line with Crohn’s & Colitis UK guidance; ask town and district centre retailers and leisure outlets to do likewise with their accessible toilets; and seek advice from Crohn’s & Colitis UK on the information and training this Council should provide to council staff members to enable them to understand these conditions and to prevent potential embarrassment for those who suffer with them.