Clean and maintain
Improved cleaning of toilets and regular maintenance checks.
We asked the community how we can improve your experience of Council-owned public toilets in Boroondara.
Thank you to everyone who shared their feedback. Over 1,800 people visited this consultation page, and we received 388 suggestions from the community.
Your feedback has helped us shape our new Public Toilet Strategy – which includes our 10-year Implementation Plan detailing how we’ll deliver the Public Strategy as well as the consultation and research reports.
About the strategy
The Public Toilet Strategy guides the future planning, delivery, upgrade and management of public toilets in Boroondara. It outlines our 10-year plan to:
- ensure public toilets are well maintained, safe, high quality and support community activities
- improve accessibility of public amenities for all people
- continue to meet safety and security expectations, and
- guide decision making for the addition of new public toilets in Boroondara.
We started working on the new Public Toilet Strategy in response to community feedback we received when we developed Boroondara’s Asset Plan 2022-23 to 2023-24.
What we’re doing
The strategy focuses on key factors that help us make decisions and maintain a consistent approach to our public toilet services. As part of this 10-year strategy, we're committing to:
-
-
Safe and secure
Make toilets safer, more gender-inclusive and accessible for everyone.
-
Easier to find
Make toilets easier to find, with better signs and clearer opening hours.
-
New facilities
Provide additional toilet facilities at up to 15 new and existing locations, and upgrade 11 existing toilets.
What the strategy covers
The strategy focuses on 62 Council-owned public toilets that are:
The locations for most of these public toilets are shown on our website's Near Me page.
The strategy does not apply to:
- Public toilets located inside Council buildings – like libraries, community centres or sports pavilions.
- Toilets that are not owned by Council – such as those in train stations, State Government-managed parks (e.g. Studley Park) or private shopping centres.
Community consultation: November 2023 – February 2024
388 people participated in this consultation and provided valuable feedback that has shaped the draft strategy.
The community’s insights are summarised below. The full consultation report is available under the Timeline on this page.
How your feedback shaped the strategy
Your stories and real-life experiences shared during the consultation helped us understand what matters most to the community. We’ve used your insights to shape the final strategy in the following ways:
1. Cleanliness of public toilets
Many people told us they avoid using public toilets because of concerns about cleanliness and hygiene.
In response, we’ve started a new cleaning contract for public toilets and BBQs. As part of this, cleaners check for maintenance issues during their daily visits and report them so Council can organise repairs quickly. We also carry out regular assessments to make sure our toilets meet the community’s expectations.
To make it even easier to report issues, we’re looking into adding QR codes to each public toilet that link straight to our ‘report an issue’ page.
2. New and upgraded facilities
We heard that access to public toilets in busy areas is a concern for many people.
We’re committed to improving access across Boroondara, which is why we plan to provide additional toilet facilities at up to 15 new and existing locations, and upgrade 11 existing toilets during the life of the strategy. Previously, only one new toilet was built every 3 to 4 years.
Where possible, new toilets will be located within 400 metres (around a five-minute walk) of busy areas like parks, playgrounds, sportsgrounds and leisure facilities.
For special sites such as all-abilities play spaces, we plan install toilets within 250 metres to better support people with mobility challenges, older residents and families with young children.
3. Mandatory sanitary bins
Recent research shows that over half of the blockages in Boroondara’s public toilets are caused by nappies, sanitary products, and incontinence items being disposed of incorrectly.
Currently, only 50% of our public toilets have sanitary bins. Under the new strategy, all toilets will include these bins to help promote health, wellbeing and inclusion in the community. The bins will be large enough to hold all these items safely.
4. New designs
We're exploring a new custom-designed public toilet for new builds, instead of an Exeloo toilet (pictured below).
Although Exeloo toilets have a self-cleaning feature, our community told us that it doesn’t effectively remove grime and often leaves toilets wet and unsafe. The automated feature also means the toilets aren’t usable for 15 minutes.
By building a locally designed public toilet, we can ensure it will:
- better suit each location
- provide consistent fixtures
- include extra features to suit community needs, such as external sinks or bike racks.
95% of the consultation participants live in Boroondara, with residents from each suburb. More women participated (67%) than men (29%).
We heard from all age groups, with the most frequent age group being 40 to 49 years (23%). There was a balanced spread of people in age groups 30 to 39 years, 50 to 59 years, 60 to 69 years, and 70 to 79 years. The youngest participants were aged 10 to 19 years (2%) and the most senior aged 80 to 89 years (2%).
Most people (88%) reported using a Council-owned public toilet within the last 12 months.
The community's experience with Council-owned public toilets is divided.
- 42% report a positive experience. Men were more likely to report having a positive experience. Reasons given for having a positive experience include:
- ease of access (50%)
- cleanliness (33%)
- feeling safe (31%).
- 37% report negative experiences. The reasons given include:
- lack of cleanliness (49%)
- wet facilities (34%)
- lack of supplies (29%).
There were significant differences in experiences for those living with health conditions, with 25% reporting very poor experiences. People living with a disability mostly reported neutral experiences (39%), with no reports of very good experiences.
68% of participants said it was very important to have clean public toilets nearby when choosing which shops or parks to visit. When asked to explain why this is important, people gave their reasons in their own words. The most frequent themes people mentioned were:
- Comfort and convenience: The importance of clean, well-maintained toilets for extended outings and the sense of safety and well-being they provide.
- Ageing population: The necessity for frequent and emergency access for older people to participate in outdoor activities.
- Families with children: The ease of visiting parks and shops without worrying about bathroom access for young children.
- Health and accessibility needs: There was an emphasis on clean and accessible facilities for individuals with disabilities and/or health conditions.
People were asked to select 5 improvements they’d like to see Council make to public toilets across Boroondara. The most highly ranked priorities are:
- Provide more toilets
- Better cleaning and maintenance
- Update/upgrade toilet existing toilets
- Improve the safety/security of public toilets
- Increase the opening hours of public toilets
When asked where new public toilets are needed, the main areas identified were:
- Sports grounds and parks, gardens and reserves (48% of responses)
- Key neighbourhood centres near shops and high streets (37% of responses).
- Women find it very important to have clean public toilets nearby (72%) compared to men (61%).
- The importance of having clean public toilets nearby generally increases with age, with the 50 to 59 age group (82% finding it very important) and the 80 to 89 age group (78% finding it very important) showing the highest concern.
- For people with a health condition, the availability of clean public toilets is considered very important by 80% of respondents. For those living with a disability, 72% reported it being very important.
- When asked about their preference for the style of toilet, traditional toilets were favoured (41%) over automated ones (35%).
