Perth Voice Interactive

JACOB’S LADDER looks like it’s heading for a 7pm to 7am curfew.

Early morning exercisers who routinely hit the West Perth steps at the crack of dawn look likely to find themselves facing padlocked gates, with the council siding with nearby residents who claim the early morning crew create too many problems.

Built in 1909 as a wooden structure, it was closed 50 years later and Perth city council rebuilt it in the current sturdier form, but even that had to be temporarily closed this year for repairs.

It’s reopened but the 5am commandos have done their dash, with nearby residents saying they’re tired of the screech of drill-sergeant wannabes urging their huffing and puffing boot campers up the steps, and joggers’ cars clogging the streets.

One resident at the Perth city council meeting this week told the Voice she’d even spotted an exerciser spewing on the verge after pushing themselves a little hard up and down the 242 steps.

She reckons it wasn’t a one-off.

Perth council faces an upstairs battle getting the place closed off, though.

A long-forgotten vestigial rule counts Jacob’s Ladder as a road, and that means appealing to WA lands minister Terry Redman to approve a 12-hour shutdown, and half-day shutdowns for roads are just not the done thing.

Instead they’ll look at rezoning the staircase a pedestrian mall, giving it power to control opening times.

They’ll still need the lands minister’s sign off, but staff reckon prospects are better for the rezoning plan.

by DAVID BELL