Lack of toilets a ‘big issue’ for aging population
Central Auckland needs more public toilets in order to become a more inclusive city, an urban expert says.
University of Auckland senior lecturer in architecture and planning Elizabeth Rose said to make Auckland more accessible for the city’s aging population and more inclusive for everyone it needed more public toilets.
There was a long tradition of councils providing public toilets, but it was becoming less so, Rose said.
‘‘There’s been quite a move to shut down public toilets, because they’re costly to run and they have issues with safety around them,’’ Rose said.
‘‘This is quite a big issue, particularly with an aging population that gets caught short, so to speak, with nowhere to go.
‘‘There will be a lot of people who need to find a good public convenience or else they’ll be excluded from the city.
‘‘You don’t want people defecating in the parks or the trees.’’
Auckland Council has a toilet
‘‘There's no question that there aren't enough public toilets available.’’ Richard Stein
redevelopment master plan, where it aimed to follow examples of toilet cafes and bars in Wellington, London and New York.
Heritage toilets on Wellesley St, Market Pl, Custom St used to be open to the public but have been closed for decades. This is the case with toilets on Remuera Rd, Stokes Rd, Great North Rd, Sandringham Park, and Kingsland Rail Station as well.
Crohn’s and Colitis New Zealand Charitable Trust chair Richard Stein said there was a need for more toilets in urban centres.
‘‘In the past 12 months we have had 28,000 hits on our toilet map site. There’s no question that there aren’t enough public toilets available,’’ Stein said.
According to its map in the central city there are 16 public toilets.
Waitemata Local Board chair Pippa Coom said it had received complaints about the lack of toilets and accessibility was also an issue.
Work was underway to develop a public facilities strategy including toilets, which identified needs and gaps, she said.
Between October 31, 2015 and October 31, 2017 Auckland Council received 58 complaints about public toilets across the city for things like maintenance, cleanliness and toilets being locked.