Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas isn’t backing down on refusing to hand over two lots of land to the State Government to build an East Perth primary school.

The government has promised to repeal legislation prohibiting development at the Queens Gardens site in exchange for ownership, but last night the City of Perth voted down the offer.

Mr Zempilas told Gary Adshead on 6PR Mornings he won’t accept anything less than a fair deal.

“They can’t leverage off the value of the city’s own land using a 64-year-old statute; quite frankly it;’s trying to hold the City of Perth ratepayers to ransom,” Mr Zempilas said.

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