September 3, 2013
A petition being taken up by Blackbutt residents opposed to a South Burnett Regional Council plan to upgrade a 30-year-old toilet block in Les Muller Park is too late to have any effect on the project.
SBRC Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said today he was aware of rumours that a petition was being prepared by some Blackbutt residents opposed to the upgrade.
However the decision to undertake the upgrade had been taken after six months of public consultations, and parts for the new toilet block had already been ordered, so the project could not be reversed at this late stage.
“If someone objected to this they’ve had six months and every opportunity to do so,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
“I’m in Blackbutt myself several times every month and my door is open to anybody at any time. So it’s pretty pointless to be doing something now.”
Council began planning to upgrade the ageing toilet block almost a year ago as part of a project to improve public amenities across the region.
This plan has already seen new toilet blocks built in Kingaroy’s Memorial and Apex Parks, and Nanango’s Lions Park. Others are planned for other towns in the future.
The Mayor said the existing toilet block in Blackbutt did not provide disabled access facilities, and also had some problems with its sewerage system.
“Our choice was either to spend a lot of money to try fixing these things or demolish the old block and put up a new one,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
“In the end, our officers worked out that it would be cheaper overall to demolish the old block and build a newer, better one.
“So we began public consultations to get feedback from Blackbutt residents on the idea.”
The Mayor said Council had called two public meetings, in March and April this year, but only one person had turned up.
Two meetings had also been held with the Blackbutt-Benarkin Community Council, who had given the idea for the new block “full support”.
“Blackbutt is the major gateway into our region from Brisbane, and the toilets in Les Muller Park are very heavily used by bus tour groups and tourists,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
“A new, modern amenities block that caters for everyone – including people with disabilities – is going to create a very positive impression about Blackbutt.
“Telling people with a disability they can’t have a rest stop in Blackbutt does the opposite; so does asking visitors to use a very old amenities block which already has some problems, and which is likely to have even more problems as time goes by.”
Mayor Kratzmann said that when he was elected in 2012 he had promised Blackbutt residents that their town would no longer be neglected and was entitled to the same facilities that every other part of the region had.
“If you look at this year’s Budget you’ll see that we’re spending more than $1 million in Blackbutt-Benarkin on things like drainage, kerbing, channelling and sealing roads, water and wastewater upgrades and many other things,” he said.
“This project is a part of that commitment to bring Blackbutt up to the same level as the rest of the South Burnett.”
SBRC Division 2 Cr Deb Palmer said today she was very disappointed that strenuous efforts to get the Blackbutt community involved in the decision-making process surrounding the toilet block project had failed.
“The toilets were built when the town’s sewerage system was first installed so they do have some historical significance,” she said.
“And if a group of residents had told me they wanted to keep them for that reason, then I would’ve fought hard to have new toilets built somewhere else in Division 2 and just upgraded the existing ones”.
“But when we called a public meeting in Blackbutt to discuss it, no one turned up.
“So then we called another one, and only one person showed up.
“Then we put the plans in the main window of my husband’s newsagency for six months so local residents could let us know their thoughts, but no one did.
“So after all this, it’s only natural to think that if no one objects to the idea of a new toilet block then most people must be in favour of it.”
Cr Palmer said she saw many positives in the proposal, and one of the biggest would be enhancing the town’s reputation amongst tourists.
“We can have up to five busloads stop at Les Muller Park in a single afternoon,” she said.
Other positives were that the new design would free up more space in Les Muller Park, and would also blend in better with other recent improvements to enhance the look of the area.
