A DETERMINED mum is campaigning for a £50m shopping centre in Didcot to install special toilets for disabled customers.

Karen England is voicing her disappointment that the current plans for the Orchard Centre do not include a facility for people with profound physical disabilities to use.

The mum-of-three says she is constantly having to plan family trips around whether there is a changing place for her 13-year-old daughter Tamsin who has cerebral palsy.

There is one planned for Oxford's highly anticipated Westgate shopping centre but there are only a handful of others in the county.

There are currently disabled toilets at the existing part of the Orchard Centre in Sainsbury's but Tamsin requires specialist equipment due to her brain condition.

She says: "It impacts the whole of our family because if there is not a toilet suitable for Tamsin to use we have to pack up and go home.

"This means my other two children miss out because we can't just leave them there unsupervised.

"Everything we do, we plan around whether there is a changing place nearby.

"We went to the cinema in Didcot over the Easter bank holiday, which was only possible because the Cornerstone have a changing place."

The arts centre is the only public space in the town to have the facility, known as a Changing Places toilet, which has a tracking hoist system, is bigger than a disabled toilet and an adult-size changing bench.

The 46-year-old, who lives in Wantage, added: "In Oxfordshire, there is one at the Windrush Leisure Centre in Witney and at a pub in Cumnor.

"And that is pretty much is it and it is wrong for people with a disability to be limited as to what they can enjoy and do just because public places do not have the right toilets for them.

"I just could not believe it when I saw the Orchard Centre didn't have any plans for a changing place and for us, it would be the nearest place for us to go shopping."

As it stands, there is no legal requirement for these facilities to be installed, but this could soon change.

Last week, Parliament's Women and Equalities Committee published a report calling on the government to consider making changing places a mandatory requirement in any large public developments.

In conversations with Mrs England, developer Hammerson has said it does not rule out installing one at a later date but there is not one currently in the plan.

She added: "I've approached Hammerson about it and I am waiting to hear back as to whether they are able to accommodate a changing place in the centre.

"But the point is, these facilities need to be in places like the centre of Didcot and they shouldn't just come about because of people like me asking for them.

"It should be mandatory because everyone should be able to enjoy shopping centres, attractions and places in the local area."

Paul Scarrott, trustee self-advocacy organisation My Life My Choice, said having more changing places in the county was a 'great idea.'

The 46-year-old who lives in Blackbird Leys added: "My wife uses a wheelchair and it is very difficult to find a toilet that she can use when we are out shopping.

"Changing Places toilets would meet her needs, but also the needs of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, or more complex physical disabilities.

"It isn't fair that some people are not able to use public toilets.

"Not having a toilet to use stops you from taking part in activities that other people take for granted, and means that you can't go to public places."

Hammerson were approached for a comment by the paper but have not responded.

For more information about Mrs England's campaign visit: facebook.com/ToPeeOrNot/