9 February 2009
- for immediate use
MEDIA RELEASE

Te Puru toilet decision subject to further consultation

Te Puru residents have been given a clear message by the Thames-Coromandel District Council's Service Delivery Committee - three toilets are too many, but further consultation is to be carried out to determine which of the public conveniences is to remain.

This follows two deputations to this week's Service Delivery Committee public forum session following last month's decision to remove the toilets at the Te Puru boat ramp and outside the Te Puru School. The committee had previously decided that the third toilet block in the Te Puru Domain should be retained.

At the December meeting committee members had been told the domain toilets were in good condition but the other two were not.

Their original decision to remove the substandard toilet blocks was in line with a proposed "sinking lid" policy on public toilets across the District to save money.

The average cost of a public toilet block is about $9000 per year by the time all factors are taken into account. The Council has 84 public toilets spread across the District. As part of the draft 2009-2019 Ten Year Plan consultation taking place, the Council has flagged its intention not to build nine proposed new toilets, saving the ratepayers more than a million dollars.

The deputations to this week's meeting both queried the condition assessments on the Te Puru toilets scheduled for removal and said the domain toilets were not well located for most users.

The Service Delivery Committee has asked for the engineering issues raised by the Te Puru Boat Club and Ngati Tamatera to be investigated and further consultation to be held with the local community on which of the toilet blocks to retain before the matter comes back to the committee for final consideration.

ENDS

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