Brendan Simpkins

THE ongoing saga surrounding the Julian Terrace toilet block’s future has been resolved, with a new toilet block to be built 80 metres north of the current site.

A last-minute bid from a handful of Gawler councillors and the public to save the existing block from demolition failed to sway the decision.

Instead, the town will receive two new toilet blocks – one at Apex Park and the other located in Martin’s Place, opposite the Gawler Post Office.

Councillors voted 6-4 in favour of creating the new block at Martin’s Place.

Councillor Paul Little presented a motion on notice, which called for the demolition of the Julian Terrace toilets to be deferred for 12 months while the Apex Park toilets were under construction and that the cost of refurbishing the block be investigated, which was lost on a 6-4 vote after it was brought forward.

In mid-October, council was offered a $100,000 Changing Places Grant which would be put towards construction of a toilet block compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Manager of infrastructure and engineering services Sam Dilena told elected members at the November 24 council meeting that the option of building two new toilet blocks allowed council to get “maximum bang for buck”.

Council was facing the prospect of handing back part of its Places for People grant, to the tune of $140,000, if the demolition and Pocket Park components were removed from the project scope.

Councillor Diane Fraser said that sending money back would be a “really bad look” for council.

The Changing Places facility is estimated to cost $200,000 as a standalone facility with the grant covering half.

An additional two unisex toilets will add an extra $75,000 to the cost.

Council is required to fund up to $77,307, which is hoped to be sourced from the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure grant.

That total is the variance on top of the original Places for People budget of $2.28 million that was secured for the Walker Place redevelopment.

As part of the demolition of the Julian Terrace toilets, the mural on the eastern wall will be retained and a ‘pocket park’ established on the site.

Gawler Mayor Karen Redman claimed the outcome was a “win-win” for ratepayers.

“Whilst the decision to remove the existing Julian Terrace toilets and replace them with a new facility at Apex Park was made some time ago, the council has listened to the recent community interest in this matter and supported a new toilet facility in the heart of the town centre on Whitelaw Terrace, opposite the Post Office and closer to our major retail outlet precinct,” she said.

“Apex Park toilets provide much-needed public facilities for any events held at the park and for the many community members who regularly use this prime natural park and playground. The new toilets at Martin’s Place are located close to the Foodland, Big W, Woolworths and Post Office shopping district, which addresses a common theme in recent community feedback to council.

“It is so pleasing that we will soon have these two wonderful assets for our community, they really do demonstrate our commitment to improving accessibility to public facilities...”

The Julian Terrace toilets will remain until at least one of the new blocks have been built.

Work on the toilet blocks is expected to begin in early 2021.

Changing Places, changing lives

GAWLER’S Lyn Lillecrapp has praised the decision to construct a disability compliant toilet block in Martin’s Place, stating that it addressed a need in town.

The ‘Changing Places’ facility will feature a unisex accessible toilet with baby change table and a unisex ambulant toilet.

But most importantly, it will feature full-sized change tables and hoists which can be used by people with high care disabilities and their family or caregivers.

Lyn is a former Paralympic swimmer who was left paralysed from the waist down after catching polio at six weeks old.

She said that the new facility would allow for inclusivity in the Gawler community.

“They can be inclusive in the community and that is the big thing, we’re included in community activities,” she said.

Changing Places facilities allow people with high support needs to feature in the community by providing suitable facilities in place of standard accessible toilets.

They also feature an automatic door and privacy screen.

Lyn said that Gawler was the only town north of Adelaide that features a Changing Places facility and said the gap was “starting to close” for people with disabilities.

However, Lyn said she would like to see more towns such as Elizabeth and Salisbury incorporate a similar facility.

Councillor disappointed by toilet outcome

MORE than 1100 Gawler ratepayers signed a petition which called for the Julian Terrace toilet block to be refurbished.

Launched by councillors Nathan Shanks and Paul Little, the petition attracted significant attention from the public which argued that the allocated $94,000 for demolishing the block would be better suited to refurbishing the existing facility.

However, the bid to save the block was squashed, with elected members voting in favour of the new block at Martin’s Place and against investigating the cost of refurbishing the existing toilets.

Cr Shanks feared the outcome had not done enough to satisfy all in the community.

“To be honest I’m worried that although there may now be technically two toilets along Julian Terrace to come, I feel we still haven’t listened to the community outcry to come to a decision that is keeping all happy,” he said.

“Unfortunately it’s my opinion with this direction we haven’t engaged the community with all the facts and figures to let them tell us what they think about what has just been voted through.

“I truly hope I’m wrong but given all the community feedback I couldn’t just vote on this without making it clear to them what this looks like.”

Cr Shanks believed building the second block was a “wasteful outcome”.

“Don’t get me wrong I like that we are going to have more disability friendly facilities but we have an existing toilet block we are paying $94,000 to demolish with another $56,000 going to a pocket park in the same location whilst building a new facility 80 metres down the road,” he said.

“I think there is a missed opportunity here that would have resulted in ticking all the boxes.

“To be clear commonly with grants council secure the council commits 50 per cent. This means if we want to build something that is $1 million and we secure a grant for a council project, it still costs the ratepayers $500,000.

“It’s very important for us to ensure we are using our grant funding for what the community wants because grant funding is from taxpayer money, so either way it’s in my opinion that this money is all ratepayer money in one way or another.”