Maylands and part of Mt Lawley to be transferred to City of Bayswater

20/1/98

The suburb of Maylands and a small part of Mt Lawley are to be transferred from the City of Stirling to the City of Bayswater.

Local Government Minister Paul Omodei announced today that he had accepted a recommendation to that effect from the Local Government Advisory Board.

Mr Omodei said the date for the transfer and the financial arrangements between the two cities would be announced later in the Governor's orders formalising the transfer, but the transfer date was likely to be July 1.

The recommendation made by the advisory board differed from the proposal put to it by the Minister and that put to it by the City of Bayswater.

The Minister proposed that the railway line should form the northern boundary of the area to be transferred, while Bayswater proposed that that part of Inglewood between Beaufort Street and the existing Maylands suburban boundary be included in the transfer.

The Minister's proposal included the small part of Mt Lawley bounded by the railway line, the Maylands suburban boundary, the river and the boundary of Vincent.

The board decided that the change it recommended to the original proposals - so that the entire suburb of Maylands plus the tiny riverfront section of Mt Lawley were transferred - was not significant and therefore did not require a new assessment process.

In its report, the board revealed that the transfer of about 9,000 residents of Maylands to Bayswater would increase Bayswater's population by nearly 20 per cent while reducing Stirling's population by only five per cent.

Bayswater had proposed that Maylands residents would be represented by two councillors of 11 on the Bayswater Council compared with one of 15 on the Stirling Council.

Maylands was more closely connected with Bayswater than Stirling in terms of shopping, recreation, education, and social activities and it had direct rail and bus public transport links with Bayswater, but virtually none with many parts of Stirling, including Stirling's council headquarters.

The existing City of Bayswater would benefit from the increased population through economies of scale in waste management and recycling, security patrols, libraries, the use of plant and equipment, and community services.

There would also be benefits from having a single local government managing the Swan River foreshore in that area.

Media contact: Hugh Ryan 9366 0200