LOCALS are trying to raise $20,000 to save this jacaranda from being axed following last week’s approval of divisive plans for a seven-storey apartment complex on Bayswater’s main drag. Keith Clements is spearheading a campaign to relocate the tree, which is at least 60 years old, from its 9-11 King William Street address to Bert…

WA’S planning approval system is flawed, says lawyer and Bayswater councillor Dan Bull, who’s refusing to be part of it. Cr Bull this week sent his council’s CEO, Francesca Lefante, a resignation letter stating he no longer wanted to be the deputy member of the metropolitan central development assessment panel, which is responsible for projects…

PROBLEMS relocating Morley Library have caused a budget blowout of $276,000 and resulted in Bayswater council going back to the drawing board. Notes on a recent confidential council report state the city will spend $776,000 — instead of a budgeted $500,000 — moving the library to Les Hansman Community Centre because of unexpected issues with…

UWA has completed a study into the ailing Baigup Wetlands, an acid-sulphate-ridden and heavily saline area south of Kelvin Street.  Bayswater city council brought in the uni to work out the root causes of the problem and now consultants GHD have come up with ideas of where to go next. Their recommendations are being put…

• BAYSWATER is a step closer to getting its own men’s shed and it will likely cost ratepayers $133,000: the proposed site at 21 Raymond Avenue has a shed on it that needs renovating. It is council-owned and has been used by rangers. Mayor Barry McKenna says it’s underutilised and won’t be missed. He hopes…

PLANS to build a WA Premix concrete batching plant in Bayswater are on hold following an EPA assessment of the application. Bayswater councillor Sally Palmer — a long-time opponent of the proposed Collier Road factory — describes the delay as “a pleasing, if small, victory for the city”. The Environment Protection Authority has spent four…

VINCENT city council can do nothing to save two century-old Cheriton Street houses from the wrecking ball. A planning oddity resulting from that part of town being handed to the council by the WA government makes the council powerless. Early this year flyers went out imploring locals to contact the council and demand it halt…

TIM HAMMOND is looking odds-on to win Labor preselection for the federal seat of Perth, one of only three seats the ALP holds in WA. The Mount Lawley lawyer’s entry into the race follows Alannah MacTiernan’s announcement this week she’s calling it quits. A member of the ALP for “about eight years” the 40-year-old has…

LABOR has pre-selected lawyer Simon Millman to take on Liberal MP Michael Sutherland — also a lawyer — in the leafy inner-suburbs seat of Mt Lawley. Mr Millman has a long background in law, often representing asbestos victims. He also represented former Labor minister Ernie Bridge, who is believed to have contracted mesothelioma when visiting…

“JENNY, Jenny, Jenny, won’t you come along with me?” Bill Culp crooned down the phone from his Melbourne hotel by way of an introduction to our interview. I do believe it was the Little Richard version, by a man at home performing in the style of a variety of legendary artists, including Carl Perkins, whose…