Shock over state of new Masterton loo
Kuripuni's hard-fought new public toilet took less than a week to upset at least one Masterton resident.
After years of debate over replacing an old toilet block demolished in the shopping centre, the state of the new loo last weekend raised the ire of Lorraine Crothers.
Mrs Crothers popped into the brand-new, district council-owned loo on Saturday afternoon out of curiosity and was shocked at what she found.
"I was curious. I wanted to have a look at their new, wonderful zillion-dollar toilet."
She said there was water to the top of the toilet bowl with water-sodden toilet paper spilling over the sides and a huge pool of water on the floor.
"I thought: Hey, aren't they going to clean them after a Friday night?"
Mrs Crothers said the 24-hour public toilet in Bannister St was usually revolting but she expected something different with the new Kuripuni loos.
"I expected them [the council] to maintain them," she said.
"It wasn't a good look and it wouldn't have been a good look for a visitor from out of town."
The problem has been explained by the district council as a plumbing issue.
Toilets at Kuripuni have been a sticking point in Masterton since 2007, when the original toilet block was demolished as part of the redevelopment of the Kuripuni shopping precinct.
Masterton District Council chief executive officer Wes ten Hove gave the developer approval to demolish the toilets without formal council approval and was called on to apologise, which he did.
Kuripuni was supplied with a Portacom toilet unit soon after, at a cost of $20 a day. The council agreed to replace the old toilets with a permanent structure last year, along with a block in Queen Elizabeth Park.
The two units cost the council $176,000.
Council communications adviser Sam Rossiter-Stead said yesterday the weekend mess was the result of a plumbing issue which had left the toilet blocked.
He said a plumber was on site on Monday and had cleared the obstruction.
Mr Rossiter-Stead said the toilet was checked daily by staff and the weekend situation had not resulted in complaints being made to the council.
