Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry last night said spending that amount of money on more toilets than were included in the design was not the most sensible move.
But the man tasked with running the stadium, Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML) chief executive David Davies, said the quality of the experience had to be up to the public's expectations.
Mr Farry contacted the Otago Daily Times yesterday to make clear his views on the issue of toilets for the west stand of the stadium, a matter that arose at a Dunedin City Council meeting on Monday.
At a council finance and strategy committee meeting, Cr Bill Acklin noted 30-minute waits for both the toilets and the bars during the test at Carisbrook last Saturday.
Mr Davies told him while there would be more toilets per head at the new stadium than there were at Carisbrook, he was considering putting more toilets, either permanent or temporary, under the west stand, where none had been planned.
Mr Farry said yesterday the number of toilets at the new stadium was within international guidelines, and "far outnumbers those at Carisbrook".
People in the west stand could use toilets in the north stand, and, to be prudent, the trust had included infrastructure for permanent toilets in the west stand if necessary in the future.
But permanent toilets would cost an extra $1 million, and it did not seem sensible to build more when the number in place was within guidelines.
But, for Mr Davies, the quality of the experience for punters was paramount.
"My concern is for the comfort of the customer," he said last night.
When the stadium was in "full mode" for events such as international rugby tests, for instance, and 5000 people were in the west stand, they would expect easy access to toilets.
While temporary toilets were an option, he suspected the public would expect permanent facilities, and DVML intended to provide a quality experience.
Asked if that could be done without more ratepayers' money being spent, he said it could, and he was already looking to charitable trusts and other funding providers to make up the shortfall.
