15-05-2025
Swindon mums celebrate longer opening of inclusive toilet
A campaign group made up of mothers is celebrating after a council agreed to open an accessible toilet at a popular attraction for on a Mission, from Swindon, all have children with additional needs or disabilities, and asked for a specially-accessible changing places toilet at Coate Water Country Park, Swindon, to be open for the same length of time as the general Swindon Borough Council-run toilet was found locked on a recent Sunday when someone needed to use group argued this was "discrimination", and the authority has now agreed to open the toilet longer from the end of May.
Mums on a Mission said the fully accessible facility - which has space and facilities for changing both children and adults - should be open from 07.30 - 16.30 each day. However, although the council agreed, it said the longer opening would be staff reliant, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.A spokesperson for Mums on a Mission said: "We're so happy to have this fantastic facility at Coate Water, but we do need it to be open and accessible."Without such a specialist facility, they said, older children and adults who still need to wear nappies or pads against incontinence need to be changed lying on the ground of a lavatory block, which is both "insanitary and undignified".The group has campaigned for accessible toilets to be installed in a number of venues in Swindon including the Designer Outlet and are looking forward to the opening of the Fleming Way Bus Boulevard, the spokesperson added.
