Tamworth Regional Council elections: candidate Marc Sutherland claims Coledale lacks even a single working toilet most of the time

Coledale, home to thousands of Tamworth residents, has just one block of public toilets, in Granny Munro Park - and they haven't consistently worked in decades, according to prospective councillor and youth worker Marc Sutherland.

"The toilet at Granny Munro has been in and out of operation for the last 20 years," he said.

"And spends long periods of time unmaintained and completely unusable. There are cases where it might be open for a short period of time."

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It's a symbol of a broader lack of investment in the suburb, which sits at Tamworth's western fringe, he said.

Mr Sutherland said the park itself is also less well-maintained than comparable parks across the region.

Its toilet, he said, is similarly neglected.

"It gets a lot worse because it's poorly maintained," he said.

"Knowing that a facility exists in a community surrounded by social disadvantage should mean that it gets higher levels of maintenance than what it does."

Meanwhile, the suburb's other public parks completely lack toilets. Even the sports field next to the federally-funded Tamworth Regional Youth Centre don't have toilets, he said. Mr Sutherland campaigned for the construction of the Youthie, and has worked there since it opened.

"From the Youth Centre perspective, we can't hold an event outside on that football field without factoring in the fact that there's no public toilet," he said.

"There might be a community-driven touch football game at the park next to the youth centre that has 200 people. And those 200 people, a majority of them are outside the age bracket for the youth centre and have no access to public toilets. So we're encouraging people to participate and not giving them any resources to be able to do so.

"Community are asking for change, and community are asking for a greater investment, they're asking for their voices to be heard and it hasn't happened for generations."

Mr Sutherland last week announced in the Leader that he would stand for a seat on Tamworth Regional Council on a platform of change. He would be the youngest and only Indigenous person on council, and said diversity would improve decision-making on the local government body.

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A spokesperson for Tamworth Regional Council said the toilets are currently functional.

"The toilets available for residents in Coledale are located in Granny Munro Park," the spokesperson said.

"These toilets are functional and available for public use during any community event at the park."

When the Leader visited the park on Tuesday afternoon, the toilets were unavailable, because they were locked.

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