Perth Voice Interactive

Kidsland was nearly Never Never Land.

For more than a year the Mt Lawley play centre has been stuck in limbo after Stirling city council declared the building “unsafe” in 2012 and closed it down just one week after it opened.

It reopened this month after finally getting all the proper approvals.

Owner Shahid Tirmazi says the drama cost him “hundreds of thousands in debt, loss of insurance and loss of income”.

“Now I just want families to come along and put this all behind me,” Mr Tirmazi says. “The kids love it—we’ve got great slides—and it’s proving really popular already.”

He says his landlord had converted the building—previously squash courts—without obtaining proper permissions but he was left holding the baby.

“The council wanted to hit me with a $15,000 fine and another $1000 for every day I was open,” he says.

“I’m planning to sue the landlord—I understand he sued the builder, who is now bankrupt.

“The landlord is trying to negotiate with me now, but I’m not interested.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK