Perth Voice Interactive

A PLAN to turn the historic Maylands parcel office into a public toilet has been canned by the Public Transport Authority.

There’s long been a dire need for a dunny near the Maylands train station (five years ago the Voice reported on a neighbouring resident complaining about someone pooing in her yard), since the nearest one is at the Maylands hall about half a kilometre away.

Three options

In April this year Bayswater councillor Catherine Ehrhardt asked staff to look into three options for a closer loo; $65,000 upgrading the parcel office’s toilet to disability standards, a self-cleaning toilet on the station, or somewhere else on PTA land (both costed between $110,000 to $220,000).

Maylands councillor Lisa Baker also wrote to the PTA asking for the parcel office to be considered for an outhouse.

The parcel office is listed as having “exception significance” in Bayswater’s heritage inventory.

But the PTA has used the heritage listing to knock back the request for a toilet and will instead use the toilet to house staff.

The authority also kyboshed a council-run dunny on its land due to “major security and safety issues”.

“Toilets attract unruly, unsafe and unhygienic practices, requiring a fulltime security presence,” the PTA’s Leoni Wedge wrote to Bayswater council.

The PTA said it may reconsider an outhouse if, “as a minimum”, the city provided hourly security patrols.

Long-time Bayswater resident and regular train user Herman Hain says the PTA is being mean-spirited.

“Seniors need toilets,” Mr Hain said before giving a disparaging look at the new Seventh Avenue bridge.

“They spent $9 million on that,” he said before trudging slowly up the street, laden with his weekly shopping

by DAVID BELL and STEVE GRANT