Matakana Tennis Club members are contemplating a return to relieving themselves in the bushes, as Auckland Council says portable toilets in Diamond Jubilee Park must be removed. The toilets have been in place while floodlights at the courts, which will allow evening playing, were being installed.
Council advised the club that the toilets outside the fence were also being used by the public. They were always meant to be temporary and connected to work on the lights. Council said that with the completion of the lights, the toilets needed to go.
There is currently no provision to provide toilets at the park, a spokesperson says.
The club, which is over 100 years old, was resurrected by a group of local enthusiasts in 2014 and currently has a membership of 60 people, with about 20 people using the courts on any given day.
Club captain Mark Lever says the current portaloos were put in place in February and cost the club about $240 a month. Prior to that, the toilets were only brought in for tournaments.
But with no public toilets at the park end of the village, and no access for club members to the single toilet at the Pony Club, they say they have no option but to “go” in the bushes.
The lack of public toilets is also a stumbling block for increasing community use of the park, Lever says.
