Market Day toilet stink

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:

Market Day organiser Carol Johns doesn’t want to see Ashburton's East St lined with portaloos for her annual event.

The former Boulevard Day market took place on South Canterbury Anniversary day on the last Monday in September for almost 50 years and Johns said was “never, ever been a portaloo in site’’.

Now, though, the toilet requirement appears to have changed with Johns’ event.

“I’m quite happy to monitor the toilets throughout the day and supply my own toilet paper, but I’d hate to see a market day up East St with portaloos stuck outside people’s shops.”

The annual Boulevard Day event along East St was abandoned in 2022, after being held in the Ashburton Domain in 2021, but the Johns-run Ashburton Market Day stepped in to fill the void. It needed council approval after the road closure request met opposition from CBD retailers.

The council approved the closure but placed several conditions on the event.

Council compliance and development group manager Jane Donaldson said the event did not comply with all of its conditions.

“There were issues around the lack of toilets which, following a review of the event, will be something that all event managers holding major events in the district will need to address,” Donaldson said.

Johns had been advised by the council she required portaloos to service the large crowds, but proceeded without them and the public toilets ran out of toilet paper.

“It’s something that just needs to be managed, to have more toilet paper. But I’ve already received an email, saying that unless I have portaloos this year I will not be given permission to run the event,” Johns said.

Event organisers were also required to be responsible for managing the waste and recycling of their own event, so the council waste bins had been covered over, Donaldson said.

Johns brought in Eco Management to handle it but it “didn’t work”.

“Within a very short time it was a disaster.”

With the waste management sites at each end of the three blocks of the market, the crowds simply piled the rubbish on top of the plastic covered bins, Johns said.

She plans to supply her own bins this year and her road closure application for September 25 has been notified, with public objections need to be lodged by August 28. The council will then consider the request on September 6 to decide if the event goes ahead again.