by DAVID BELL

A MEN’S shed is on the cards for Buckley Street in Cockburn Central.

Cockburn city council’s feasibility study reckons men’s sheds in Australia are taking off—PM Julia Gillard’s partner Tim Mathieson is an enthusiastic ambassador—with most reporting 100 men a week visiting them.

It also says that as the local population ages there’ll be more need for services for the older set, especially with block sizes getting smaller and men unable to run their own workshops.

The council’s senior’s centre is popular but 80 per cent of members are female and it’s been “less able to attract older men indicating an unmet need for men in the city”.

The shed is expected to be popular amongst younger men too, with 300 all up expected to drop into the Cockburn shed every week.

The range of ages means young and old men are able to help each other out: The older men providing guidance, like village elders, and the younger men offering the elders strength, support and male camaraderie.

The idea was welcomed by those consulted, with 66 of 68 locals surveyed saying they’d love one to be built.

Now the council’s just waiting on WA lands minister Brendon Grylls to rubber stamp the plan.

It’ll cost $80,000 a year for a full-time shed coordinator and a bit under $10,000 in operating costs.

In the meantime the council will look at spending $47,500 across the two financial years from 2013 to 2015 “to fund an interim men’s shed in Wattleup”.