Bingley Town Council is asking for feedback on its plans to install a Changing Places facility at Bingley Pool. Comments are needed back by 14th May 2018.
The Town Council is contacting those most likely to benefit from a Changing Places facility, a toilet for people with complex disabilities, and is also interested in the views of any other residents.
The aim would be to provide a Changing Places facility of around 8.75 sqm (exceeding the minimum space standard for a retrospective installation) including an adult sized changing bench and hoist. The plan would involve converting one of the disabled changing rooms in a dry area at the swimming pool. It has the go-head from Bradford Council which owns and runs the pool although any equipment and works, estimated by Bradford Council at £11,000, would have to be met by the Town Council. An alternative would be to purchase a mobile Changing Places kit (for example https://www.migloo.co.uk/naked ) that could be used in the dry area changing room but moved as needed.
The call for a Changing Places facility has emerged from a consultation the Town Council carried out in December 2017 into plans to retain public toilet facilities in Bingley. The public toilet block in the centre of the town in Jubilee Gardens has since been shut by Bradford Council at the end of March, although it has offered the Town Council the option of managing the site through a Community Asset Transfer (CAT), at long lease on a peppercorn rent.
The Town Council’s cost-effective solution is to reconfigure the toilet site so that it provides office accommodation for the Town Council along with two semi-automatic standard accessible toilets.  To fund the conversion, the Town Council will take out a government loan, repaying it over 20 years.  This plan received the support of the majority of residents who took part in the consultation in December and a precept to cover the works was set in January.
Campaigners for a Changing Places facility made a formal request for a reasonable adjustment to the plans to include a Changing Places facility. The Town Council has considered the request, sought legal advice, and is currently formulating its response.
Taking into account the size of the building in question, the space requirements of both the council and two standard accessible toilets, the council’s resources, the not unlimited time in which to achieve a CAT and the possibility of a Changing Places facility at Bingley Pool (with longer opening hours, the availability of support staff and ongoing costs and any training met by Bradford Council), the Town Council has decided to pursue installing the facility at the pool.
Although Bradford Council has indicated it plans to shut Bingley Pool, there is no fixed date for closure and, in the meantime, the Friends of Bingley Pool are also pursuing and are optimistic about a Community Asset Transfer of the pool itself to retain the amenity.
Given the investment required and the resource implications, the Town Council would like to ascertain if the plan to install a Changing Places facility at Bingley Swimming Pool – either permanently or by using mobile equipment – has the support of those most likely to benefit from it.
Any requests for more information and feedback should be emailed to: enquiries@bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk
I think having this facility is a really good idea and essential to those people who need extra support. Whether it is a fixed provision or a mobile one is up to the people who will be using it, so hopefully you will get a view from disabled people and their carers about this. If it is installed at the pool, it is essential that it is well advertised and signposted. I think it will send out a message that Bingley is trying to be accessible and welcoming to everyone. It would be a very positive facility for Bingley.
I fully support the proposal to provide accommodation for the Town Council and two public toilets.
I imagine that ultimately the cost of the Changing Places facility would be met by Bingley residents and business via business rates (if the Town Council benefits from these) and council tax. In an ideal world, the facility is highly desirable, but I wonder whether the outlay is justified by the potential usage. The responses from and on behalf of potential users need to specify not only the likely number of users but also their likely frequency of use in order to fully understand the case and justify using limited resources in this way.
A new Lidl is being built very close to the baths, what about seeking some amount of funding from Lidl to help fund this facility ? Also could Aldi & Sainsbury be approached to see if they would make a contribution ?
I think a Changing Places facility should definitely be added to Bingley Pool. There is no point in having it in the centre of Bingley as it would take up too much room.
I also fully support the need for not only disabled but facilities for all people visiting bingley, however I think plans to go ahead with disabled facilities in a building which could potentially close down in the not too distant future doesn’t make a lot of sense, surely it would make more sense to use a building that can provide long term facilities for those in need justifying the financial spend,
Definitely support this proposal, could also disabled access to the pool be looked into. I appreciate that a relatively small part of the population may use these facilities, but certainly it would hit the tick box in being able to comprehensively offer health rehabilitation facilities as well as leisure facilities. I am sure the Bingley Health Centre practices and the NHS trust would buy into this.
I know Bradford Council is looking to cut back expenditure ,despite backing a massively expensive new pool in Bradford. To keep the Bingley Pool and Gym, then as residents we need to financially support the Pool, could we also ask the surrounding Parish Councils in Harden and Cullingworth to contribute to the running costs. It would save their residents having to go to Keighley or Bradford!
I completely support this proposal. It is really good that we are able to send out the message that everyone is welcome and catered for in Bingley. I’m also pleased that our town council have proved to be so responsive to those campaigning for this. It is a slight risk putting the facility into Bingley Pool when its future is uncertain but hopefully this may add to the case to have it transferred as a community asset.