TOWNS and villages are being invited to bid for cash to improve disabled changing facilities in public toilets.

South Lakeland District Council has earmarked £50,000 to pay for the upgrade work after cabinet members heard that teaching staff were being forced to change disabled children on dirty and urine soaked floors in conveniences across the area.

Council leader Giles Archibald said he had been told about the extent of the problem by Kendal town councillor Lynne Oldham, a senior teaching assistant at the town's Sandgate School which caters for pupils with severe and profound learning needs.

She told Cllr Archibald that not only were disabled children being changed on a floor in public toilets but sometimes in the back of a mini bus with staff shielding the child with coats or blankets to preserve their modesty.

"Imagine how the child's dignity is taken away from them, lying on a dirty toilet floor," said Cllr Archibald, who was quoting Cllr Oldham.

Under new proposals local communities are to be invited to bid for the funding to create or improve their existing disabled changing facilities.

The money will be used to provide equipment such as a bench or a hoist, create enough space for a disabled person and their carers, privacy and a safe and clean environment.

Cllr Archibald mentioned that tetraplegic Will Clark, who represents Grasmere on Cumbria County Council, Cllr Dyan Jones, a SLDC councillor from Windermere, and Cllr Oldham had all helped highlight the issue.

Cllr Janette Jenkinson added that she 'totally supported' the project and made reference to a national campaign to provide more changing places.

"It's made me think greatly every time I now use a public toilet," she said. "I just now look and see the state of them and the inconvenience that disabled people must have been going through. It's heartbreaking and actually it's probably moving me to tears."

SLDC’s cabinet praised the work of Changing Places, a national organisation which campaigns for better facilities for people who cannot use standard accessible toilets.

Money would be allocated through the existing New Homes Bonus, where government matches council tax raised on new homes and properties brought back into use.

The proposals are to be brought before a meeting of the full council later this month.