‘Broken from day one’ - councillors blame staff for dunny debacle
Wednesday, 5 March 2025
Current and former South Waikato district councillors say they’re not to blame for the Leith Place dunny debacle, saying former staffers designed the toilets which were “broken from day one”.
On Tuesday, the Waikato Times reported on a South Waikato District Council decision to spend $600,000 replacing faulty toilets installed during its $4m Leith Place redevelopment, which opened to the public in December 2019.
Despite being only five years old, Tokoroa’s architecturally-designed, award-winning, million-dollar Leith Place toilets will be bowled because they are “not fit for purpose”, and replaced in April.
The flash dunnies have seen ratepayers spend a pretty penny on constant maintenance of the elegant outhouses, which were built without ventilation, were cramped and uncomfortable, and were fitted with pipes too small for the job.
Mayor Gary Petley 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”.
Deputy mayor Hamish Daine said changes made to the plans after public consultation were also a surprise for ratepayers.
“What was built was a lot different to what they said would be delivered. It certainly wasn’t what they consulted on.”
Daine said he suspected this was due to budget constraints, but could not be sure as he was not on council at the time.
Former mayor Jenny Shattock, who led the project, previously told the Waikato Times it was not her fault as staff told her all the way through that everything was fine.
Former councillor and mayoral hopeful Peter Schulte said the toilets were a disaster, and “broken from day one”.
He criticised council staff for their poor design and functionality, and said councillors did not play any part in the physical design process.
Schulte’s reaction on opening day was, “what the f*** is this?”
He said a person in a wheelchair got stuck in one of the cubicles within minutes of them being opened because they were too small, and suggested contractors were not properly supervised.
“If I built toilets like that at home, they would never pass [inspection].”
He said councillors rely on staff to ensure infrastructure is built correctly, but in this case, “they failed miserably.”
When asked if council staff had flagged any concerns about budget constraints or design issues before construction, Schulte said “no”.
Councillor Thomas Lee, also on council at the time, said poor planning and design decisions were not the fault of councillors.
He said had councillors seen the cubicle designs earlier, they would have rejected them.
'Someone at council has signed this off.
“The darn things didn’t even have ventilation. They just turned into a hot, smelly box.”
Lee said budget constraints at the time of construction saw other features of the Leith Place redevelopment dropped, including an I-Site and viewing platform.
Lee admitted that five years was too long to have the problem rectified.
'We’re trying to make the best of a bad situation, but this won’t please ratepayers.“
According to a statement, the council had three separate project managers involved with the project at different times.
While the council would not name names, it said two were council employees and one was contracted to the project.
“These project managers are no longer employed or contracted by council.”
Council project manager Ross Provan said they would bypass the problem pipe network and create a new connection to the town’s main wastewater line under State Highway 1.
“The pipes below the current toilets are too small in diameter and have too many bends and junctions. This is the cause of the problems,” Proven said.