Affordable housing will be built at former Tailem Bend Tennis Club site
The Coorong council has tentatively decided to allow about 20 homes to be built on a block on Tenth Street.
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Relief is on the way for a “chronic” shortage of housing at Tailem Bend.
About 20 new homes will be built at the former Tailem Bend Tennis Club site on Tenth Street following a decision of the Coorong council last week.
Three quarters of the 10,000-square-metre site will be used for affordable housing and open space.
The remainder will be sold at a market rate, likely either in one piece or as five 500m² blocks.
A public survey late last year had found that housing was what most locals wanted built on the land, which was no longer needed by the tennis club.
The state Office for Regional Housing, Tailem Bend Community Centre and employers Vena Energy and Greenhill Energy also expressed their support for more housing at the site.
A shortage of housing at Tailem Bend – and around the Murraylands – was restricting population growth and making it hard for employers to find workers, Greenhill Energy managing director Nicholas Mumford said.
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“At the moment there’s not a single rental in Tailem Bend,” the council’s community and corporate services manager, Myles Somers, told councillors.
“Yet … we could see 100 jobs (created locally) in the next three years.
“At the moment, we’ve got nowhere for those people to live.”
Setting 75 per cent of the land aside for affordable housing would not produce a profit for the council, Mr Somers said, but it would benefit the community.
“You’re not doing this for the cash,” he said.
“The long-term economic benefit is for people … living here, spending money here, playing sport at the football club in Tailem Bend, kids going to the primary school: that’s the benefit, and it’s significant.
“But you don’t get cash in the bank.”
Councillors took time to make their minds up
The Coorong’s councillors reached their decision about the property last Tuesday, a week after they had been unable to choose between several different options.
They voted in favour of the plan, 3-2, only after being assured that:
- adequate open space would remain at the site
- a memorial to former Railway Institute member Frank Clapp would be relocated
- they would have a chance to review the final plan to subdivide the site
Councillors Jonathan Pietzsch, Sharon Bland and Andrew Qualmann supported the final outcome; Jeff Arthur and Mick O’Hara were opposed; and Ruth Maidment and Lisa Rowntree were absent.
The council will seek federal funding for some of the planning work required at the Tenth Street site, alongside planning for the future of Tailem Bend’s highway corridor, the lookout above Dickson Reserve and the old ferry landing below.
Councillors had needed to reach a decision in time for council staff to apply for that funding by February 29.
