Unisex design gone but toilet site anger remains

Jane Emerick
Surf Coast’s foreshore manager has dumped unisex design from plans for a new toilet block overlooking Torquay’s front beach.
But community group Friends of the Front Beach remains opposed to remaining plans for the toilet block after meeting officials at the site.
The redevelopment plan would replace an existing foreshore toilet with a structure measuring 2.7 metres high, 5.8m wide and 10m long adjacent to The Esplanade.
Council had deferred the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee’s planning application for further consultation between the committee, residents and shire planning officers.
The coast committee, Surf Coast Shire planning officers and a councillor attended the meeting with residents this week.
Friends of the Front Beach’s Peter Cooper was pleased the unisex issue was resolved but the group still wanted the remaining plans to be “safer, less obtrusive and more accessible to foreshore users”.
Mr Cooper said the location of the proposed toilet block, running perpendicular to The Esplanade just metres from the road, was a particular sticking point.
The friends wanted the toilet further down the slope to limit its visual impact, he said.
However, Mr Cooper welcomed the chance to meet officials to discuss the toilet block plan.
“This is what the Friends of the Front Beach always wanted and always asked for,” Mr Cooper said.
“We wanted the opportunity to meet GORCC members to express our opinions.”
Mr Cooper said the group would draft alternative toilet block plans for the coast committee in the next few weeks.