A Milestone Victory - Leicester mum wins battle over Changing Places toilet for The Shires.

June 2007

The mum of a disabled boy has won her battle for a special toilet to be fitted in the multi-million pound extension to the Shires shopping centre.

Julie Marriott said her nine year-old son, Toby, who has cerebral palsy and needs a wheelchair to get around, could not enjoy family days out because Leicester's disabled toilets were not good enough.

She joined a national campaign group called Changing Places, which involves other parents and disability charities, to call for a special toilet with extra space and equipment such as hoists to be included in the Shires extension.

Bosses originally said they had no plans for such a toilet but have now confirmed one will be included in the £350 million extension.

About 40,000 disabled children and elderly people across the UK, including several hundred in Leicestershire, would benefit from Changing Places toilets, according to disability charity Mencap.

However, the charity said there had only been 30 of the toilets – which cost between £8,000 and £10,000 – identified across England. Along with other charities and groups, Mencap is calling for more to be fitted in schools, airports, train stations and other public buildings.

Mrs Marriott, 46, from Markfield, said the toilets made a huge difference to the quality of life of disabled people and their families. She said: “It’s important for people who have disabled children but also for some people who have suffered strokes or elderly people in the later stages of Alzheimer's disease. It's a big issue and a moral crusade because there are some people out there who are left housebound. Toby is getting to be bigger and heavier and it’s getting more and more difficult to lift him on to benches in toilets. This equipment will make a really big difference to a lot of people in similar circumstances."

Beverley Dawkins, who works for Mencap and is chairman of the national Changing Places consortium, said disabled people who needed the special toilets had "extreme restrictions" on their lives if none were actually available.

She said: "Lots of activities, like going out for the day or going shopping, get curtailed prematurely. It's a huge restriction on people's abilities to take part in things that the rest of us take for granted. These toilets are a practical solution that could change the lives of thousands of people across the country. This is a hidden problem - people have been really shocked when they find out that typical toilets for the disabled are not enough. The success in Leicester is a huge milestone for the campaign."

Richard Brown, boss of the Shires-Highcross Quarter development, confirmed that a Changing Places toilet would be fitted in the new extension. An existing disabled toilet at the Shires has already been fitted with a hydraulic bench to help carers, he said. In total, there will be six disabled toilets across the new centre. Mr Brown said: "We take the health and wellbeing of all visitors to the Shires extremely seriously indeed."