The first new public toilet in a 10-year programme adding facilities in Dunedin will be next to the central library and it will be suitable for people with complex disabilities.
It will be a Changing Places bathroom and Dunedin is set to have three such facilities by the end of the decade, assuming the new Dunedin Hospital is built by then.
The other bathroom will be at the South Dunedin Library and Community Centre, expected to open in 2024.
Changing Places bathrooms have been described by the Dunedin City Council as larger, accessible toilets for people with severe, multiple, or complex disabilities, and include equipment such as hoists, showers, curtains, adult-sized changing benches and space for carers.
The city council’s $2.1million programme will add, after the first year, two public toilets a year.
In 2022-23, they are set to be added in St Leonards and the Exchange area in the central city, replacing toilets in Dowling St.
No councillor in deliberations yesterday voted against the 10-year programme.
Councillors agreed to a suggestion by Cr Jules Radich that council staff should review Google Maps information about public toilets and update it.
Cr Rachel Elder said adding conveniences, including Changing Places bathrooms, enabled more people to spend more time in recreation pursuits or shopping.
"We need to look after our whole community," she said.
Public toilets are planned for the Harwood St recreation reserve, Otago Peninsula and Navy Park in South Dunedin in 2023-24.
The council intends to install public toilets close to the North Ground in north Dunedin and the Truby King Reserve in Seacliff the following year.
The location of public toilets was the subject that attracted the most comments in the council’s consultation for its draft 10-year plan.
More than 1000 people offered their suggestions.
