THE MT Lawley Society says a plan flagged by Stirling council to allow Colorbond fences in heritage areas threatens to ruin the streetscapes. Fencing between front gardens in the Mt Lawley and Inglewood heritage protection zones are currently restricted to timber, stone, wrought iron and brick fences less than a metre tall, allowing open viewing…

DEVELOPERS building in Bayswater will need to retain and plant new trees under a proposed council plan to control greenery on private property. The new policy comes amid fears that left to our own devices we’ll leave Perth a barren Nullarbor. Bayswater’s aiming to hit a tree canopy coverage of 20 per cent by 2025,…

WA POLICE are on the hunt for a potential arsonist who could be behind Tuesday’s bushfire at Kings Park. The fire started early morning in the bushland, near a gravel track between May Drive and Royal King’s Park Tennis Club, before strong winds fanned it west towards Thomas Road. DFES got to the blaze around…

THE debate around changing the date of Australia Day saw numbers soar at the annual Invasion Day rally. Hundreds of people marched from Forrest Chase to the Supreme Court Gardens on Friday, chanting “Australia was and always will be Aboriginal land” with signs reading “No pride in genocide”. The rally temporarily blocked off traffic on…

CONSUMER PROTECTION is hoping Perth’s infamous “rogue tree lopper” leaves town. The watchdog recently issued another warning not to do business with Sean Robert Weinthal (aka…John) and his nephew Mitchell Craig Grisbrook, who distribute flyers offering tree lopping services in mailboxes around verge collection time. Even Consumer Protection’s calling them “dodgy”, saying they’ve had complaints…

AUTHOR Jeff Apter talks about his book High Voltage: The Life of Angus Young, at the City of Perth library on February 15. The bestselling book is the first biography to focus exclusively on Young from his life in working class Glasgow, to Sydney, and chronicles his time keeping AC/DC on the rails. It’s free at 5pm, register via http://www.eventbrite.com.au and…

THE first Ultimate Fighting Championship event to be held in WA will kick-off next weekend at Perth Arena. The hexagonal arena used in UFC was banned by the former Liberal government in 2013, amidst perceptions that “cage fighting” was too brutal, with then-premier Colin Barnett describing it as a “gladiatorial” sport, and the WA branch…

THE origins of many urban legends are lost in time, but a few WA yarns can be traced back to travelling storyteller Glenn B Swift. Travelling from town to town, conjuring yarns based on the area’s history, the modern day bard has been telling tall stories, often for school kids, for more than 30 years.…