The stench of human faeces and urine from a thicket of bushes and flax above the slipway in Wharf St has local residents furious about the Wanganui District Council's failure to provide a toilet block there.
They say public toilets should have been built years ago.
Instead they are stillhaving to deal with the pollution, which worsens as slipway activity increases over the summer months and more people use the stand of scrub as an outside toilet.
Ken Carlyle said the problem was that people from as far afield as Manawatu and South Taranaki brought their boats every weekend. "There's nowhere for them to use the toilet. A lot of them come over to my house and ask me if they can use the toilet, which is not the best."
Mr Carlyle said the other slipways in the central district, at Foxton and Patea, both had public toilets. "Amazing, isn't it? In little places like that they have toilets, so you'd think that at least Wanganui would be well set up." Another resident, Neil Mills, said the stink and lack of decent lighting at night had prompted him to make a submission to the council's 10 Year Plan.
"I presented my petition to council early June and Ken came with me. Well, we haven't heard a word ... nothing at all. It's not good enough." Both men say the lack of lighting is becoming dangerous. "Because so many boats are coming in after dark now, it really worries me that one day there will be an accident," Mr Mills said. Mr Carlyle said Wharf St was a bit like the days when hundreds of campervans were "freedom camping" all over the country.
Coastguard president Kevin McKenna said there were so many boaties coming in from outside the area that good toilet facilities and lighting were vital. "I would be very, very pleased to see decent toilets and good lighting out here."
