Orange City Council approved the development application on Tuesday night, but it was highly contested after McNamara Street businesses objected to the location.

Another application in the same location was approved in 2015, only to be rescinded after the FOOD Week committee said it would take out some of its night market stalls.

The latest application followed a failed attempt to co-locate toilets at the CWA, which did not proceed due to cost and concerns about public access. 

Mayor Reg Kidd said his first preference had been the CWA Hall and the second had been the former toilet location near the taxi rank. 

“A lot of the arguments were about people being at Anzac Day services [and not having a toilet], but one of the letters was from the Legacy group – they’re against it and most of those people are elderly,” he said.  

Councillor Glenn Taylor said it was tired of plans reaching the 11^th hour and voted down.

“Is this council capable of building a toilet? You may as well close this city down – all we’ve had is we’ve voted against things,” he said. 

Although the matter has lasted 17 years, first-term councillor Joanne McRae said she was “already sick of talking about this toilet”.

“We need to make a decision and stick with it,” she said.