Spending a penny

Brock Park is a popular spot for people to take a break and have a bite but the amenities are old and very small considering the amount of people who use them. The interior, although kept clean by council workers, is not up to the standard and aesthetic that people expect nowadays. A possible issue with demolishing the current toilets to make way for a new block is that there are murals on them – a bucking bronc on one side and pictures on two others. Councillors were told at the recent meeting that council officers were conscious of the artwork and had a process in place in these types of situations to try to engage the artist.

In the old days, they used to call it spending a penny when you went to a public loo, harking back into ancient history in the United Kingdom when it cost you that much to unlock the door to the amenities.

Well, there’s nothing more certain than this: it also costs a pretty penny to build a toilet block.

Build four all at once and you’re looking at needing piles of money – $1 million, to be exact. Luckily, the Southern Downs Regional Council doesn’t have to get out the money of its own coffers for its upcoming new-loo project.

The toilet blocks will be built at Brock Park (Stanthorpe), McGregor Park (Stanthorpe), Jim Mitchell Park (Dalveen) and the Lake Leslie boat ramp precinct.

The Brock Park project, on the northern approach into town, will include a picnic shelter and civil works for improvement of car park access as well as the new toilet block and its funding of $425,000 will come from the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program (LRCI).

McGregor Park will be funded through the same program at a cost of $250,000 while the Jim Mitchell Park will include a toilet block, RV dump point and civil works for improvement of car park and driveway access in its $120,000 LRCI budget.

The Lake Leslie project will be funded from a grant of $250,000 from Sunwater.