Dunny disaster - Ratepayers’ millions flushed away

Tuesday, 4 March 2025

Hamish Daine deputy mayor, wants to get the functionality of this space working better.

Tokoroa’s architecturally-designed, award-winning, million-dollar Leith Place toilets are set to be bowled because they are “not fit for purpose”.

Despite being only five years old, the flash dunnies have seen ratepayers constantly spending a pretty penny on maintenance since they were built with the elegant outhouses’ pipes too small for the job - despite their goal of attracting thousands of passing travellers to stop in the town’s main drag.

But former mayor Jenny Shattock, who led the project, says it’s not her fault as staff told her all the way through everything was fine.

Now, tired of flushing good money after bad for constant unblocking, cleaning and vandalism repair, the South Waikato District Council will install new toilets at the Leith Place car park in April.

South Waikato deputy mayor Hamish Daine said the council could not continue to keep spending money constantly cleaning and unblocking the town’s public toilets.

South Waikato mayor Gary Petley said after a thorough assessment, the council found design faults during construction had resulted in “unsustainable levels of maintenance and repair costs”.

The new toilets, which will be built off-site by Portabuild, will cost $600,000 and take around five days to install.

Tokoroa’s Leith Place toilets will be replaced with more robust facilities.

Petley said the existing Leith Place toilets will continue to operate until replaced, and should changes be made to Leith Place in future, could be uplifted and relocated.

He said it was regrettable the existing toilets had become “an untenable burden on ratepayers”, and action was needed to ensure the community has a fit-for-purpose facility “that does not require exorbitant levels of budget for maintenance and repairs”.

Tokoroa's multiple award-winning Leith Place toilets were opened to much fanfare in December 2019.

The toilets were part of a $4m upgrade of Leith Place, which, due to a series of delays took more than three years to complete, and while controversial at the time, were opened to much fanfare in December 2019.

Since then, the toilets have since been plagued by constant vandalism, including the theft of toilet paper, intentional blockages, and even fires, and had to be cleaned up to six times a day.

However, the main problem lies underground with inadequate pipework connecting the toilets to the local sewerage system.

“At the time, the council’s intention was to create a plaza area for visitors and locals to use, provide parking for shoppers, incorporate the existing Talking Poles into a forest, and offer rest-room facilities to attract passing traffic off the highway,” Petley said.

The Leith Place toilet cubicles were also found to be too small and cramped for many users.

“Unfortunately, while architecturally attractive, the function of these toilets has become a drain on staff time and ratepayer money.”

Council is also considering other options for the original architectural features and plans to restore and retain the current artworks.

The wooden surrounds will be left in place, the old toilets removed, and replaced with new ones, with the cost for replacement to come from the council’s operations budget.

The toilets and surrounds were designed by multiple award-winning DCA Architects, based in Rotorua.

Former South Waikato mayor Jenny Shattock, who now lives in Nelson, said staff had assured her council the Leith Place redevelopment was fit for purpose.

The toilet surrounds vary in height from seven to nine metres and consist of a stand-alone enclosed toilet at the base, metal framework with wooden fins, and a shiny disc on the top. They were laid out in the form of the Southern Cross.

Since their opening, the Leith Place toilets have won three awards - the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Best Loo Award in 2022, the Waikato/BOP New Zealand Institute of Architects award, and a regional award from Architectural Design New Zealand.

Deputy mayor Hamish Daine said If people used the toilets like they did at home there would be few problems.

“But when they put a whole roll of commercial toilet paper down there, they obviously didn’t.

“We had to clean them six times a day, and unblock them regularly on top of that.

“I’m glad we’re doing this, it’s been too long.”

He said estimates to replace the inadequate pipework were at least one million dollars.

The news will be cold comfort for cash-strapped ratepayers after the South Waikato recorded one of the lowest rates increases in the country at 8.9%, after approving its long-term plan in September last year.

Former mayor Jenny Shattock, who led the $4m Leith Place upgrade, said the redevelopment was completed under-budget, and her council “made the best decisions with the information that was given to us by staff”.

“So we, as elected members and governors, came to the conclusion that Leith Place needed to be tidied up. It had been 20-odd years since it had had anything done to it.

“We had a staff project manager. He reported back to us regularly and told us that everything was fine … that everything was fit for purpose.

“And we believed it … that's why they went ahead.”

She said experts advised the council that toilets and food were key factors in encouraging visitors to stop, leading to the decision to make the toilets a prominent feature.

“I hope they leave that structure there because it's pretty awesome when you look at them.”