THE Bayswater Bowling and Recreation Club is challenging a $19,000 rates bill owed to Bayswater council, claiming it was blackmailed into signing an unfair lease. Club president Mark Cameron told the June 25 council meeting “we signed that lease under duress” and as a result it should be considered “null and void”. In 2016, after…

AT least one developer has some confidence in Beaufort Street, with an eight-storey, mixed-use development on the way for the long-empty Highgate Drycleaners site. Baltinas Architecture designed the $10 million, 26-apartment block with four small retail spaces on the ground floor, and two offices upstairs. It generated 20 objections from neighbours, and is taller than…

NEWSPAPER conglomerate Community News Group, owned by 7West Media, has killed off the Guardian Express newspaper in a round of major amalgamations and redundancies. The Guardian has been merged into the Eastern Reporter, which currently covers Morley, and will now carry that name. CNG says the changes are aimed at “simplifying its masthead names” and…

THE Vincent Men’s Shed has a new free little library outside its premises at 10 Farmer Street, North Perth. “The library is for all members of the public from children to adults to encourage reading and put down digital devices for a short time,” shed treasurer Roy Haagman said. “The aim of the library is…

VINCENT council has ushered in its 2019/20 budget with an average residential rate increase of 2.7 per cent. Mayor Emma Cole said it wasn’t a showy or flashy budget, but was about “future thinking” to deliver key community initiatives, such as the roll-out of its three-bin FOGO system. It’s due to start next financial year…

A DOGGY daycare in the West Perth scout hall has been rejected again by Perth council commissioners, despite warnings from staff the decision could be overturned on appeal and the city hit with legal costs. Commissioners Andrew Hammond and Gaye McMath first rejected the Madame Ma’s Doggie Daycare application for a change-of-use for 581 Murray…

AFTER a “frustrating” delay of years, more trees and a leafy town plaza are coming to the sun-baked stretch of Beaufort Street north of Walcott. Stirling councillor Suzanne Migdale has urged the city to get a move on and start planting, as “suggestions to improve this part of Mount Lawley have been ongoing since December…

A NEW free parking trial in the City of Perth aims to revitalise high streets that have empty shopfronts. On Tuesday (June 25) Perth city commissioners approved a year-long trial of free one-hour parking on “high streets” in East Perth, West Perth and Claisebrook precincts. They’re prioritising the rollout to areas that have lots of…

GREYHOUND lovers are lobbying the state government to axe laws requiring the dogs to wear muzzles in public. Maylands Labor MP Lisa Baker is backing the push and says the law hinders greyhound adoption because it creates the perception that they are more likely to bite than other dogs. “This flies in the face of…

THE opening of Lyric Lane in Maylands has been delayed again, after two subcontractors went bust. Musicians Rob Snarski and Shane O’Mara were advertised to play at the bar/music venue on June 21, and the Little Lord Street Band on June 29, but those gigs were moved to The Bassendean Hotel. The ambitious venue, built…