Did a Crux reader just get our $580,000 public toilets fixed?

With thousands of visitors now in the CBD, many of Queenstown's central public toilet cubicles have remained unusable for months due to stuck doors - until a Crux reader asked "why?"

Crux then asked Queenstown Lakes District Council about the state of the Earnslaw Park facility, and more importantly, when’s it getting fixed?

Our query was prompted by a reader, who contacted us about the Earnslaw Park toilets this week, saying they had been in “disarray for months” – three out of ten of the toilets were permanently locked, others had closed signs due to "compressed cardboard doors falling to bits."

In their response yesterday, December 20, QLDC couldn’t confirm how long the three cubicles had been out of action but said they’ve received four complaints about them in December and repairs were due this week.

QLDC clarified the toilets worked fine, instead the issue was with the hinges of the doors, meaning they didn’t open as they should.

But now for the good news: they’re fixed!

Following our queries, Crux went to check out the toilet block this afternoon, and found council contractors in the middle of repairs.

Council’s Parks and Reserves contracts manager Adrian Hoddinott says the feedback surrounding QLDC-managed facilities is pretty positive, but they’d been “caught out” with the Earnslaw Toilets.

“Generally, we really value and are really proud of this service we provide to this community.”

We’ll leave it up to our readers to decide what prompted the repairs.