Where is Pt Chev's worst public loo?
Dark, decrepit and almost impossible to use if you're in a wheelchair. Pt Chevalier can claim an unwanted title: the worst public toilet in the entire Albert-Eden area.
Walker Park's ageing toilet block has been slapped with the lowest possible rating, "very poor", in a council stocktake of all 31 public loos run by the Albert-Eden Local Board. The old block passed just one of nine accessibility tests. Knocking down the park's two tired blocks and replacing them with a single modern facility facing the road is the only fix in the whole report marked top priority.
And it's not the suburb's only problem privy.
The beachside toilets at Harbour View Reserve flunked the council's safety check. Assessors described them as "very isolated outside of peak hours" with "lots of blind spots", tucked under trees and reached by a sloped, unlit path from Harbour View Road, or a steep climb up from the beach. The report says they should be shifted to the southern end of the reserve when the building wears out.
The lonely loo next to the Pt Chevalier Sailing Club at Raymond Reserve also rated poor for safety, with "no passive surveillance" after dark. Worse, it is one of five toilets across the board area that fail the council's new rules for where loos should be at all. When this one reaches the end of its life, the council will decide whether dog walkers and kite surfers get a replacement, or nothing.
Even the town centre toilets, freshly wrapped in a striking image of the Carina Nebula shot by a local photographer, could be on the move. Their entrances face away from the street, so the report wants them rebuilt closer to the road as part of bigger plans for the library and community centre. That job is pencilled into the council's 2027-2029 work programme.
Mt Albert doesn't escape the blowtorch either. The toilets at Rocket Park were rated poor, "dark and tired", and the report says they should eventually be demolished and rebuilt near the street parking where passers-by can keep an eye on them. The "battered" block beside Mt Albert train station, a repeat vandalism target, also rated poor, and the council is being urged to get Auckland Transport to put a decent street light over it.
At Ōwairaka Park, the problem is the opposite: one toilet and far too many bursting bladders. Between the playground, skate park, basketball court and a big Saturday morning running event, the report says a second cubicle is needed.
Meanwhile one of the area's busiest parks has no toilet at all. Murray Halberg Park, with its sports fields and large playground, is the only spot in Albert-Eden that qualifies for a loo but doesn't have one. The report recommends building one, possibly inside the planned Marist Saints Rugby League Club redevelopment, with a standalone block as the back-up option.
Behind it all is money. The report calls public toilets high-cost assets to build, clean, restock and repair after vandals strike, and notes the local board is reviewing its property portfolio in a process that "could result in owning and operating fewer buildings". Just nine of the 36 toilets assessed have a baby change table. Two heritage toilet buildings, at Sandringham Reserve and Mt Eden Rd, are already locked up for good.
