Rankin relics or something worth saving?

Hello everyone and welcome to those of you who have signed this petition since my last update.

We have now reached 1250 supporters, which is great to see!

The roses in Rankin Gardens are flowering again, and are looking better than ever! They have been called relics of the past and not worth keeping. But one of the things that makes Subiaco special is its heritage and links to the past. Why dig up something that is part of that history and brings beauty and enjoyment to people’s lives?

We are still waiting for the Civic Precinct project to appear on a Council meeting agenda again. At last month’s meeting, a community member asked about the City’s timetable for determining the future of the old Council offices at 241 Rokeby Road. The answer given included (with my emphasis):

…a report will be presented to Council later this calendar year setting out a revised design, supporting Business Case, technical investigations, responses to community feedback and an officer recommendation regarding the future of the Council Chambers and Administration Centre and broader Civic Precinct.

The agenda for the October meeting is likely to come out next Friday. It’s possible, but perhaps unlikely, that the Civic Precinct project will be on that agenda. It seems more likely that it will be put to the vote in November. The last Council meeting for this year is scheduled for 15 December.

So we continue to wait, with bated breath.

One of the disappointing things about this process is that the meeting procedures often prevent Councillors from proposing alternatives to staff recommendations.

Another disappointment is that, despite the Council resolution in April to formulate and iterate options that respond to the community feedback, it seems that there will be no further community consultation on the project.

One option that emerged earlier this year was for the City administration to remain in rented office premises and for the old Council building at 241 Rokeby Road to be refurbished as a community centre.

Based on the wording of the staff reply noted above, it seems that the City is moving towards presenting not a design brief  (as required by the April resolution) but a revised design. This suggests that all other options - including not proceeding at all - are off the table.

There are still unanswered questions about the project, such as:

• Is the City still proposing to demolish the Rose Fuhrmann Centre (a vital building used by Subiaco Primary School) to make way for the access road to the new Council building (if built)?
• Has the Council now set a capital ceiling/budget for the project, as required by the April  Council resolution? What is it?
• What investigations were undertaken to assess the feasibility of the City remaining in rented premises instead of building at 241 Rokeby Road?
• As it is nearly a year since the project cost estimates were published, what work has been done to update these estimates to take into account inflation and supply chain constraints?
• What process was used to select Human Urban to assess the condition and possible refurbishment of 241 Rokeby Road, and what was their scope of work, fee and advice?

Whilst writing, I was looking through my collection of newspaper clippings the other day and realised I had misattributed the statement in my last update about the council building’s leaky roof. This came from a letter to our Post community newspaper, not a petition comment. Apologies for that.

Thank you for reading to the end, and for your continuing support.