THE Mount Lawley Society has delivered a letter to planning minister Rita Saffioti imploring her to preserve the character of Beaufort Street. Stirling council created a local development plan for the street, following a consultation process so thorough and collaborative it won an award from the Planning Institute of Australia. Character But before the plan…

LOCALS fought hard to save the 75-year-old tree at Mt Hawthorn Primary School, but the old Port Jackson Fig is now gone. The group Trees4Vincent petitioned education minister Sue Ellery to alter plans for a $3.5 million early learning centre at the primary school so the tree wouldn’t have to be removed. But despite a…

A CON MAN pretending to be collecting for a wildlife charity is door knocking in Mt Lawley, says WA ScamNet. The organisation received a report that a 12-year-old boy answered the door to a man holding an iPad, who claimed to be either from Wilde Life or The Wilderness Society. The man asked the child…

THERE was a huge turnout for the first meeting of new precinct group Northbridge Common, with about 180 people attending the sundowner at Stuart Street Reserve on Monday night. The group, similar to Beaufort Street Network and Leederville Connect, is comprised of residents and business owners who want to improve the inner suburb. The business…

A PLAN to charge residents near the Maylands lakes an extra $4000 in rates has been axed by Bayswater councillors this week. The ailing lakes are expensive to maintain and the council has budgeted about $1.25 million for improvements in the near future. Bayswater council staff proposed charging the 313 residences near the lakes an…

RICHARD OFFEN says he is busier than ever since stepping down as executive director of Heritage Perth. The English ex-pat was in the role for 12 years, but is now doing a lot of heritage talks and is flat-out working on the follow-up to his hit book, Perth: Then and Now. On March 26 he’ll…

LESS than 10 per cent of Wikipedia contributors are women, leading to an “alarming gap” in content related to gender and feminism. Independent art space Paper Mountain is teaming up with the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery at UWA to rectify the imbalance with a “Wikipedia Edit-a-thon” this weekend, as part of the global campaign Art+Feminism.…

PROTESTORS complaining the McGowan government hasn’t lived up to its pre-election promise to stop logging in high conservation value forests will gather at Parliament House this Wednesday at noon to present a 10,000-strong petition. The WA Forests Alliance says it has plenty of proof that old-growth forest in the South West is being clear-felled, aided…

NEW laws giving the state government the power to suspend or sack an individual councillor have been introduced to parliament. Currently the local government minister can only suspend an entire council. Discussions about the law started shortly after the McGowan government’s election and Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi’s appearance at the State Administrative Tribunal over…

A CABARET performer whose act involves graphic piercings of his body says he shouldn’t be linked to self-harm. Damien Kenny’s recent performance at the Fringe festival cabaret El Bizarro had the Voice’s reviewer scrambling out of the front-row to the safety of the back seasts, and caused her companion to faint, prompting her to question…