Plans to demolish a toilet block with the ‘best view in Sydney’ panned by residents
A toilet block with the ‘best view in Sydney’ faces the axe but residents are fighting its case with a campaign including protest notes written on toilet paper.
North Shore
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A MOVE to demolish a loo with “the best view in Sydney’’ has been panned by irate locals.
Residents say the 100- year-old toilet block near the Lavender Bay jetty is of historical significance and should be saved.
The push to save the loo has included sending North Sydney councillors a protest note on toilet paper.
The council is proposing to spend either $150,000 on refurbishing the toilet block or demolishing it and building a new dunny at a nearby location at a cost of $300,000.
Nearby resident and artist Peter Kingston said the council was flushing money down the toilet.
“The existing toilet block might be a bit smelly but it has its merits and it’s historically important – it was built before the Harbour Bridge,’’ he said.
Mr Kingston said about 50 residents at a recent Lavender Bay precinct meeting voted overwhelmingly to save the toilet block.
Instead, they want the council to give the brick edifice a makeover, including a new tiled roof.
Mr Kingston claimed the council favoured building a new toilet block only metres from the existing one.
He said the council argued that the toilet block, which occupied about nine square metres, interrupted the view of the harbour and Harbour Bridge for people walking along the Lavender Bay foreshore.
However, Mr Kingston said the toilets only interrupted the view for about five seconds when you walked past and did not interrupt the views from any houses.
Another resident, former councillor Norbert Kelvin, said it was not right for ratepayers to bear the cost of a new loo.
“This toilet has the best view in Sydney,” he said.
“It’s fine where it is and it’s not unsightly.”
A report on the issue will be presented to the council next Monday.
A spokeswoman for the council confirmed the cost of the two options and said the toilet block was “very old and in poor condition”.
The spokeswoman said the council had met with the precinct committee on several occasions over the issue and the council had recommended in April not to refurbish the toilet block and relocate it to “a less sensitive and visually prominent part of the site”.
The plan also called for improved landscaping and lighting along the foreshore.
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