City of Bayswater councillors ‘disappointed’ at progress to save Maylands brickworks

City of Bayswater staff have been accused of dragging their feet on looking at how the historic Maylands brickworks can be saved.

The site has been slowly deteriorating since production ended in 1983.

A structural assessment this year found the site’s Hoffman Kiln — the only one remaining in WA and one of the only five left in Australia — and Pug Mill were in poor condition and at risk of collapsing.

Restoring and activating the site has been estimated to cost several millions of dollars and the city is seeking help from the State and Federal governments to pay for it.

The council voted in August that repair works be made a priority project in the city’s mid-year budget review and long-term financial plan, for a schedule of works to be prepared and other potential site uses to be investigated.

But councillors bemoaned what they saw as little progress on the matter at their December 12 meeting.

Cr Dan Bull said he was a “little disappointed” with how much work had been done.

“The resolution that was adopted in August I feel was unequivocal in terms of the priority level and the urgency that council saw the need to progress this project,” he said.

“It is disappointing to read … given the budget reallocation has now occurred, city officers will now commence the project when this actually happened in August.

“It reads to me as if nothing has happened between August and now.”

He was worried there would not be enough time to look at how the site’s restoration would be paid for before the mid-year budget review.

“It seems to me that there’s every chance that we will miss that opportunity given that the project that was resolved to commence in August is, we’re now being told in December, that it now can commence,” Cr Bull said.

“I really implore on the organisation to respond to council’s August resolution and ensure that this is of highest priority.”

Cr Nat Latter was also concerned about how slow progress had been.

“I think the work of the city needs to reflect the priority that council gave to the issue in August,” she said.

“Funding options have not been fully explored.”

She said the future of the brickworks had been raised during her local government election campaign.

“It was raised with me by many people, both living close to the brickworks, but also people on the other side of the railway line, so it’s not just a local issue,” Cr Latter said.

Infrastructure and assets director Luke Botica said a lot of the delay was due to balancing staff time between this and other city projects. The election caretaker period had also had an effect.

Friends of Maylands Brickworks member Stella Gray said despite the council’s decision in August to prepare a maintenance schedule, city officers had “decided to continue to do nothing”.

“We have struggled over the past five years to just get the gutters cleaned,” she said.

“It’s just basic maintenance, we should be able to get simple things done.”