FOUR new specialist toilets and changing facilities have opened along the Tendring coastline.

Tendring council has installed Changing Places facilities in Brightlingsea, Clacton, Frinton and Holland-on-sea.

Changing Places are for people who cannot use traditional disabled toilets and include hoists, height-adjustable changing tables and sinks, and shower facilities too.

The four new amenities join five existing ones in Tendring. 

Here is a list of where just some of the Changing Places facilities are in Tendring: 

  • Bathhouse Meadow, in Walton
  • Southcliff Beach Promenade, Walton 
  • Western Prom, Brightlingsea
  • Near Martello Beach, Clacton 
  • The Esplanade, Holland-on-Sea
  • Centenary Way, Little Clacton

Anyone who wishes to apply for a key to access the facilities can apply on the Tendring Council website, a tendringdc.gov.uk/leisure/seafront-and-beaches/changing-places.

Clacton and Frinton Gazette: Improvement - Councillor Peter Kotz with the new changing placesImprovement - Councillor Peter Kotz with the new changing places (Image: Tendring Council)

Peter Kotz, TDC Cabinet Member for Assets, said the facilities were a lifeline for many people.

Peter said: “For people with complex needs a day out to the seaside can be a huge challenge, trying to plan in things many of us take for granted such as using the toilet.

“Having nine Changing Places facilities around our district opens up the area as a visitor destination for people coming from near and far, meaning everyone can enjoy our beautiful Essex Sunshine Coast."

Grant funding of £300,000 from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities paid for the new facilities in Brightlingsea, Clacton and Holland Haven.

Essex County Council’s Short Breaks service, which supports disabled children in the county, funded the site in Frinton.

Full details of the locations of Changing Places facilities, and how to access them, can be found on the national website at www.changing-places.org/find.