How long does it take to install a public toilet? Well, in humble Erskineville, NSW, Australia, it’s 10 years – and counting. Let me take you on a lavatorial journey through time.
In 2014, the City of Sydney council finalised its Public Toilet Strategy – a 32-page document that prescribed nine new toilets around the municipality, including Paddington, Darlinghurst and Newtown, and upgrades elsewhere.
When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go - but not in Erskineville.Credit: iStock
The council’s vision: no matter where you were in the city, you should never be more than 400 metres from a public restroom. Rightly so – because when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.
Alas, a decade later, poor old Erskineville is still busting. What went wrong?
First, nothing much was done for several years. The council already had a street furniture contract, so it waited until a new one commenced in 2020 to include public toilets, “to get the best value for our residents”.
In 2021, a development application was lodged by QMS Media – the outfit behind the XL-sized advertising billboards that have popped up all over the city. It proposed four new public toilets, including one on a slice of council land across the street from the train station, called Erskineville Square.
The new proposed location of the Erskineville toilet. The tiny red dot to the right marks the previous proposed location, which was twice rejected.
Of the four, it proved the most controversial; the subject of 52 of the 74 public submissions. These argued the toilet was in an inappropriate location, would hurt nearby shops and have an adverse impact on the Burren Estate Heritage Conservation Area. The council recommended the Erskineville toilet should not proceed, and the local planning panel agreed.
In late 2022, QMS tried again, nominating the same spot. But before the panel considered the item, Labor councillor Linda Scott intervened at a full council meeting on behalf of shop owners “who want nothing like a public toilet sitting right out the front of their businesses”.
Sydney’s most controversial public toilet. A constipated story
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24.03.2024
How long does it take to install a public toilet? Well, in humble Erskineville, NSW, Australia, it’s 10 years – and counting. Let me take you on a lavatorial journey through time.
In 2014, the City of Sydney council finalised its Public Toilet Strategy – a 32-page document that prescribed nine new toilets around the municipality, including Paddington, Darlinghurst and Newtown, and upgrades elsewhere.
When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go - but not in Erskineville.Credit: iStock
The council’s vision:........
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