4 December, 2019

Council washes hands of toilet issue

Children are having to relieve themselves in the Sunnynook Park bushes, after a popular council playground was built with no toilet facilities, but the council is pushing the responsibility onto the local board.

The playground at the edge of the park, next to the Tonkin Drive car park, was built about two years ago as part of flood-prevention work.

Parents spoken to at the playground said the 700-metre walk across playing fields to the nearest council toilets is not practical when toddlers are busting. They often have to head home, use the bushes or ask at nearby shops.

Sunnynook Community Association chairman Peter McNee says the playground is busy every day after school, because there are two kindergartens and a school nearby.

McNee has spoken to more than 40 parents, who signed a petition calling for toilets near the playground.

He has also spoken to nearby shop owners, who say people come in with children asking to use their toilets.

The results can be embarrassing for parents and children.

“Children wet themselves or go in the bushes,” he says.

McNee says he has been lobbying Auckland Council for facilities for at least a year.

All of the parents the Observer spoke to at the playground agreed about the need for facilities, saying young children often leave it too late to say they need a toilet when they are playing.

One mother recalled arriving at the playground only to have to go home again.

Sunnynook parent Herman Grobler said he has generally been able to get his two girls home, but it’s “a real nuisance”.

Grobler and other parents would like somewhere for children to wash their hands and a drinking fountain.

Auckland Council provided a statement saying the nearest toilets are a five-minute walk away.

“The Devonport-Takapuna Local Board’s annual and three-year planning has begun and new facilities may be considered as part of this.

“The board will be seeking community feedback on these plans between February and June 2020.”

This article originally appeared in the 6 December of the Rangitoto Observer.