COTTESLOE and Mosman Park councils may be on the brink of ending a 15-year saga about a new works depot.
On Tuesday, Cottesloe councillors will consider signing a heads of agreement so their trucks and gardeners’ mowers share the McCabe Street depot operated by the neighbouring council of Mosman Park.
Any agreement could end debate about a new Cottesloe facility for the outdoor workers that started when lawyer John Hammond was the town’s former mayor before 2002.
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READ NOWCottesloe’s old Nailsworth Street depot was eventually sold for housing for $9.1 million in 2013, leaving the council to subsequently use a Fremantle yard that cost $916,220 to hire before the lease finishes in October.
Since 2002, there have been several failed discussions to share Mosman Park’s depot or move to Claremont, and attempts were also made to use the gardener’s area at the Sea View Golf Course in Cottesloe until last year.
A staff report said moving the gardeners and rangers to Mosman Park would reduce travel times and fuel emissions, and provide better maintenance, but the McCabe Street site needed redesigning and construction of buildings.
“A bigger benefit will be the sharing of machinery, such as a backhoe we could both use, and we may also be able to share administration staff at the depot,” Mosman Park Mayor Brett Pollock said.
Mr Pollock said the annual cost to Cottesloe ratepayers would “probably” be cheaper than their council hiring the Fremantle site.
He said because he had become Mayor only recently, he had not heard about a potential site for a regional depot for multiple western suburbs’ councils in Nedlands.
Asked about a larger facility, Nedlands acting chief executive Peter Mickleson said the city continued to work with its neighbours to improve economies of scale for depot facilities and services.
“There is no plan for a regional depot at McGillivray Oval, however there may be future opportunities on the old Brockway tip site,” Mr Mickleson said.
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