UNELECTED bureaucrats are on the verge of approving a concrete batching plant, over the objections of the elected Bayswater city council and hundreds of local residents. In June 2011 the council rejected the proposal for Collier Road after receiving 400 protest letters concerned about noise, truck traffic and pollution. Ransberg wants three 19m silos and…

NO, it’s not a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds—it’s a house beside Nando’s overflowing bins in Mt Lawley. Loose garbage has attracted up to a dozen crows and several ibis every day, irking residents with droppings, noise and chicken bones (Voice, April 13, 2013). After reading last week’s front page story, council health inspectors…

A HOMELESS Perth choir is preparing to take centre stage in this year’s WA heritage festival. The Spirit of the Streets choir—formed in 2007 to help disadvantaged people—will star in The Streets of Northbridge. The musical drama will trace the highs and lows of Northbridge’s colourful past. The motley choir includes singers with autism, Down’s…

DRONES, hovercrafts, helicopters and swamp boats have all been considered by Bayswater city council in its war on mozzies. The council has been inundated with calls from residents and sports clubs about a surge in the blood-suckers at the Maylands foreshore. A March 6 public forum attracted about 70 itchy locals. Maylands Peninsula Golf Club…

LEISURE and sports businesses are choosing to operate illegally in Stirling because planning red tape makes it too hard to go legit. The council planning scheme does not permit recreational businesses to operate in industrial zones, affecting dance studios, squash courts and indoor cricket centres. Dance instructor Teresa McGorry says many business owners flaunt the…

THE owner of a rundown heritage house on Brookman Street has been prosecuted for failing to repair the derelict 19th century cottage. Number 4 Brookman Street is classified as “conservation essential”, and in 1990 was named one of the two most intact and “grandest dwellings” on the street. But it’s been empty since 1996 and…

THE Perth Transport Authority has failed to consult locals about bus lanes planned for Beaufort Street. Vincent city councillor Josh Topelberg notes that around the world some cities are removing dedicated bus lanes: Sydney has recently pulled them out of Oxford Street. “Some people will say the bus lanes have killed retail on Oxford Street,…

JOAN DOWSON was a ballerina before serving as a nurse in WWII. She later became the third woman to join the RSL executive in WA. Fremantle heritage expert John Dowson will piece together the memories of his late mother’s life through personal letters and photographs, which he will draw on for a lecture at the…

BAYSWATER council staff recommend rejection of a $3.5 million Woolworths’ makeover of the Peninsula Tavern in Maylands. The final decision will rest with a local development assessment panel, not the council. Most members of the DAP are not elected. The development application for the Railway Parade pub and bottleshop includes a 743sqm Dan Murphy’s outlet,…

In her first speech to state parliament new Perth Liberal MP Eleni Evangel says she hopes neglect of Perth’s CBD is a thing of the past. A Perth city councillor for eight years—resigning to take up her new post—she says she’d first stood for office because of the, “lack of attention and investment by successive…