Perth Voice Interactive

VINCENT city council can do nothing to save two century-old Cheriton Street houses from the wrecking ball.

A planning oddity resulting from that part of town being handed to the council by the WA government makes the council powerless.

Early this year flyers went out imploring locals to contact the council and demand it halt the owner’s plans to demolish them.

Voice reader Janice Kelly went digging in the WA postal directories and found the buildings were far older than first thought, with a reference dating back to 1908 when music teacher Wm Key occupied number 60 and insurance agent WM Meek occupied 62, proving them well over 100 years old.

Mayor John Carey responded to concerned campaigners, thanking them for their efforts to fight to save the historic houses, but saying there was little the council could do. The council had opposed the demolitions in February 2014 but didn’t have a legal leg to stand on when the owner appealed to the powerful but unelected state administrative tribunal.

The whole area used to be overseen by the East Perth Redevelopment Authority, and in Mr Carey’s words “the planning framework we inherited from EPRA had failed us in this instance”.

by DAVID BELL