THE short-lived ability to subdivide 240sqm blocks into even smaller parcels has been banned in the Cleaver and Hyde precincts in Vincent. The right to subdivide tiny blocks had been an accidental side-effect of a state government policy intended to give higher density to places like Ellenbrook. It ended up affecting Vincent’s historic inner-city suburbs…

A NEW breed of convenience stores taking over from the old corner deli is springing up throughout central Perth, and coming head to head with inner-city residents. Many popping up about the place are the more well-known Kwik-E-Mart and 7-Eleven franchises but similar stores such as GloryXpress are also muscling in. An application for a…

BASSENDEAN mayor John Gangell says Bayswater council meetings are slow and inefficient, heightening tensions ahead of a merger between the municipalities. Cr Gangell snuck into last week’s Bayswater meeting for some reconnaissance, sitting patiently through more than four hours of debate. “On average our meetings at Bassendean take around one-and-a-half hours,” he says. “At the…

THE fur is flying between Maylands MP Lisa Baker and Bayswater mayor Sylvan Albert. The Labor MP accuses the council of failing to enforce a local law it passed in October that limits the number of cats allowed per property. It’s the latest in a string of complaints she’s made about the council since Cr…

FOLLOWING the dearth of Australian feature entries in last year’s Revelations film festival, a small group of Perth movie fans has set out to ensure the local industry gets a showing. Australian Revelations curators Rebecca Anderson and Suzanne Worner have started a one-a-month showing of local movies as a sideline to the Revelations festival. They’re…

CATHERINE EHRHARDT is quickly becoming “Queen of the Markets”. She was behind the Maylands and Mt Hawthorn hawkers markets, involved in the Inglewood Night markets and is now set to manage a new winter market at the City Farm in East Perth. If that wasn’t enough, she works full-time in her shop Blackcurrant Clothing on…

MAYLANDS residents are concerned the upgraded Seventh Avenue railway bridge will clog surrounding streets with trucks and increased traffic. The new $9.3 million bridge is expected to open in May, and will replace the rickety 1913 timber bridge which carried just 3500 vehicles a day. The old bridge had an eight-tonne load limit, which will…

THE chill of cancer has surrounded Jeremy Marshall for years. His sister, now in remission, had the disease, a friend died from it in September, and it claimed his grandmother. Now Mr Marshall is hitting back, and will embark on a gruelling ride from Mundaring to Albany to raise money to fight kids’ cancer. “Right…

EVER wondered what kind of hair lacquer Colin Barnett uses? How often parliamentary speaker Michael Sutherland strokes his gavel in chambers? These and less frivolous questions will be answered on Heritage Perth’s free tour “Connecting People, the law and parliament”, which starts next month. The hour-long walk—exploring the history of WA’s judiciary, local government and…