Making Pirie Street playground a great place to ‘go’

Making Pirie Street playground a great place to ‘go’

The Pirie Street Playground is a great place to visit, but there’s nowhere to go if nature calls.

To fix this issue, the Mt Victoria Residents’ Association is calling for the Wellington City Council to put aside funds for public toilets for the park.

“As residents, we love to go to the park with kids but it’s no fun if we have to make a mad dash back home to make a toilet stop,” says MVRA President Ellen Blake.

“The nearest toilets are on Courtenay Place, a fifteen minute walk, or on top of Mt Vic.”

All users of the town belt would benefit, including volunteers doing gardening.

Those workers sometimes encounter evidence that humans have been using the bush to do their business.

“It’s not a very nice thing to come across.”

Blake says there are various options for where the toilets could be located, including at the Bowling Club, at the Innermost Gardens or near the bus stop.

The area has existing infrastructure that can be used.  In fact public toilets used to be available by the park until they were removed.

Blake didn’t think there would be negative consequences to having public toilets such as encouraging more people to hang around drinking.

“People already do that.  Having a toilet just makes it nice.”

Now is the time to make local voices known, as the council puts together its Long Term Plan.

The MVRA has started a petition to call for the toilets to be installed, which residents can find at the Hub.

Or people can make a submission on the Long Term Plan, asking for funding for the toilets.