PEOPLE needing to spend a penny in York city centre will be able to do so more comfortably from next spring, when new toilets finally open.

The block in Parliament Street, commonly known as the “splash palace”, will finally be consigned to the history books next May when new facilities open in Silver Street.

City of York Council has re-submitted plans for the new units, just off Newgate Market.

Once the new block opens, the splash palace is likely to be levelled.

In a statement supporting its new application, the council said the new block would include a changing place, an accessible toilet for disabled users, and a baby room.

Officials wrote: “The guiding principle for this building is that it should be sensitively remodelled and refurbished internally to provide an attractive and usable facility for the very important and busy city centre area.

“It should be both welcoming and accessible to all and be an asset to the local community and the city as a whole.”

Plans to close the Parliament Street toilets were unveiled in January. The building was opened in 1992, following a refurbishment of old underground toilets.

But the building was derided as an eyesore, and has been blighted by vandalism, blocked drains and bad access.

Earlier this year, a director of the British Toilet Association condemned York’s public toilet provision, saying: “I know, having visited York, that you come away thinking ‘nice Minster, shame about the toilets’.”

Councillors have not yet decided what will go in the splash palace’s place, but leader Andrew Waller has suggested it could become a new open space, free of unsightly street clutter – a suggestion that won backing from conservation group York Civic Trust.

The site has also been touted as a possible location for a big screen for York. As reported previously in The Press, the BBC wants to roll out more of the screens to cities across Britain, ahead of the 2012 Olympics.