Crime-hit public toilets to become visitor centre
Joe Willis/Local Demoracy Reporting ServiceA former public toilet block in Leyburn will be transformed into a visitor and heritage hub after more than £115,000 of funding was given.
The town's Kelberdale toilets, off Market Place, closed after suffering anti-social behaviour and becoming too expensive to run, with other facilities available in the area.
The money will be used to redevelop the block, which will include a disabled toilet.
Funding will also pay for a new Visit Leyburn website to promote the town to visitors and highlight local community services.
The grant of £117,523 has been allocated to Leyburn Town Council by the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, David Skaith, from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority's Sustainable High Streets Fund.
Skaith said: "High streets are constantly changing, but they have, and always will be, hubs for our communities."
He said the new facility would create "an inclusive, prosperous market town high street for all."
Other work planned alongside the hub - known as the Accessible Leyburn project - will include plastic matting to improve the path from the Shawl to the nearby playground and additional accessible seating on the Shawl.
Thirty more accessible audits of businesses and attractions in and around the town will be carried out, while a wheelchair scooter has been donated by the Access the Dales charity to the hub, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The town council said more information on plans would be released with residents and businesses invited to participate in the project by by creating content for the hub and website.
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