The City of Port Phillip Council has released plans to construct a public toilet facility in the parkland facing Fitzroy Street, immediately in front of St Kilda Park Primary School.

Based on the track record of the Council in not being able to provide clean, safe and well looked-after public toilet facilities, the School Council is very concerned that these toilets would present a safety risk to our students, families and wider community members.

Elsewhere in St Kilda, public toilets have become dirty, unsafe spaces that attract drug users and other anti-social behaviours. We believe that the risks of this happening within 15 metres of our driveway are unacceptable. 

The Council has accepted that these risks exist but are determined to build new public toilets, believing that this location is the only option on Fitzroy Street.

We believe public toilets are important but that a facility located further down Fitzroy Street would remove the risks of placing it next to a primary school and also better meet the Council's stated aim to serve the needs of shoppers and bar and restaurant users, the majority of which are located between Grey Street and the Esplanade. 

Through this petition, we seek to show the widespread opposition to this risky project in an inappropriate location and to urge Council to go back to the drawing board and find a better location for this facility.