A 5-year battle to make Featherston a more comfortable stop for travellers finally panned out yesterday with the demolition of the town's grotty old public toilets.
As Bruce Buchanan Ltd's digger smashed the concrete block toilets to pieces Featherston Promotional Group chairman Colin Olds was wreathed in smiles.
"This could be the
start of the regeneration of Featherston, starting from a public toilet."
Mr Olds, along with the town's community board chairman Garry Thomas and many other people, have been pushing for better toilets for years.
Mr Olds said it had been decided in 2004 that Featherston needed better loos and building new toilets was to start as soon as the rubble from the old ones had been carted away.
Yesterday Featherston people turned out in force, many with cameras, to capture the fall of the old toilet block.
Mr Olds was on hand to redirect travellers seeking a public toilet to alternative venues, and there were no shortage of would-be customers.
Among those seeking a comfort stop were a busload of residents from Shona McFarlane Retirement Village, Lower Hutt, who were redirected to Greytown.
Mr Olds said port-a-loo toilets are to be erected in Featherston while the new toilet block is under construction and Featherston RSA Club, alongside the toilet block building site, is willing to accommodate comfort stop visitors.
The new Featherston toilets are to be state-of-the-art, being built along the lines of the world famous loos in Taihape.
