ILKLEY Civic Society has expressed "considerable concern" over the design and location of a proposed Changing Places Toilet (CPT) facility for the town and is recommending its refusal.

Bradford Council has submitted plans for the new facility next to the existing town toilets in the car park off South Hawksworth Street.

Changing Places toilets are for people with severe disabilities, and include washing and changing facilities.

There has been a national push for more of these facilities to be installed in town and city centres to make them more accessible.

Whilst strongly supporting the principle of this national initiative, Ilkley Civic Society says: "Guidance for Changing Places Facilities states ‘they should be in key public buildings’ and we suggest not in a portacabin on the edge of a car park.

"Whilst the provision of facilities within the toilet will provide all that the design guide recommends, externally this proposal lacks any design thought."

Similar plans to install such facilities in the Bradford District have been met with setbacks.

Bradford Council withdrew a planning application for a Changing Places toilet next to Cartwright Hall in Lister Park after a Conservation officer raised concerns about fitting a modern building next to a Grade II listed gallery.

And similar concerns were raised over a facility planned for Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley, which led to the plan being scrapped.

Ilkley Civic Society says: "We suggest this is yet another case in the CPT programme in Bradford where a total lack of thought has been given to the design and siting of a temporary unit and are pleased to see Bradford Council has already refused one such unit planning permission due to its lack of appropriateness in a historic location.

"It may surprise some that the central car park is a historic location as it does sit in the centre of our Ilkley Conservation Area. The site is already identified in the CBMC Conservation Area Appraisal as ‘providing a negative contribution’ to the conservation area for which CBMC has a legal duty to ‘preserve or enhance’, this proposal for a temporary white portacabin does neither. This portacabin will add to other recent developments in the area that whilst providing a useful facility actually add to the negative visual appearance of the area."

Ilkley Civic Society says the plans shows "total disregard for the heritage of the area" and notes there are no proposals to relocate the wheelie bins currently on the site.

They add: "On the basis of the information provided Ilkley Civic Society has recommended refusal of this application by Bradford Planning dept until a more acceptable solution is designed.

"We suggest an even more welcoming, sustainable and practical solution would be for Bradford Council to locate the CPT inside one of the vacant units in the Bradford owned Moors/Dalesway shopping centre. This would give covered level access, as with the shops. At the same time new public toilets would be incorporated alongside the CPT, a more inclusive solution being in the same unit. This would then allow the demolition of the existing tired public toilets and a start made in creating a well designed pocket park/open space for visitors and residents as they access the town."

A decision on the planning application is expected to be made by the end of May.