Maribyrnong Council to spend more than $3 million on new public toilets

Unsafe, hidden and filthy — that’s what people think of public toilets in Melbourne’s northwest. So one council has devised a plan to spruce some of them up. But it won’t come cheap.

Toilets were relocated from Leeds St to Pipemakers Park three years ago for $70k.

Maribyrnong Council could splash as much as $3.5 million on new public toilets over the next decade.

Maintenance and cleaning costs would set ratepayers back a further $17,000 annually.

The big spend comes after ratepayers panned the city’s public toilets in a 2014 Open Space Strategy, saying they were unsafe, poorly lit, badly maintained, hidden away and a hot seat for anti-social behaviour.

Toilets in Coulson Garden that were built seven years ago.

But a community survey two years ago found residents did not think public toilets were a priority; ranking them 18 out of 35 services.

There are currently nine public toilets in parks and activity centres including Coulson Gardens, Pipemakers Park, Yarraville Gardens, and Footscray Park playground.

In the past three years, five new toilets and one relocated toilet have cost the council $630,000.

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A new toilet currently being built in Braybrook will cost about $200,000.

Planning services director Nigel Higgins said the aim of the draft plan was to ensure there were enough public toilets across Maribyrnong.

Major activity centres, municipal reserves and neighbourhood activity centres would be given the top priority.

Construction of toilets in Grimes Reserve in Footscray, Hansen Reserve in West Footscray, and Cruikshank Park in Yarraville would begin first.

All park toilets would be open from 7am to 7pm in winter and 7am to 9pm in summer.

People living and working near the proposed locations would be consulted before the toilets are built.

Consultation on the plan is open until tomorrow.

Have yours say about the plan here.