Rationalisation of public toilets to continue

District strategy to be developed to ensure public needs are met.

For "sinking lid" read "rationalisation" - that's the key message Thames-Coromandel District Council wants its residents and ratepayers to understand in respect of proposed changes to the provision of public toilets in the District.

During deliberations on the draft 2009-2019 Ten Year Plan, TCDC Councillors heard that a majority of submitters were not in favour of a "sinking lid" policy on public toilets, but some Councillors believed this was because many of them had misinterpreted what was proposed.

The proposed policy did not mean new toilets would not be built where there was a demonstrable need, nor did it mean that existing toilets would be removed where they were needed.

But, with 84 public toilets across the District, there was a significant ongoing operational cost even for those toilets where there was little or no use being made of them, and it was the latter that needed review.

With the endorsement of the proposed rationalisation policy by the Council, staff will now produce a District strategy to identify the best way forward to ensure public needs are met in the most efficient manner. The strategy would also look at how "user pays" could be implemented where possible.

Council also agreed to defer construction of nine new toilets across the District, as in the draft plan, but endorsed the proposed Superloo at Hot Water Beach in 2018-2019.

The above decisions still have to be confirmed in June when the Council signs off on the 2009-2019 Ten Year Plan.