Murray Bridge council watch: Council pulls Regional Development Australia funding
Plus questions are asked about electric vehicle charging and a road gets a new name at Sunnyside.
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Nine months after pulling most of its funding for Regional Development Australia Murraylands and Riverland, the Murray Bridge council has gone one step further.
Councillors voted last year to reduce the council’s annual contribution to RDA by $100,000, and followed up this month by pulling the remaining $20,000, too.
The two organisations will continue to cooperate on projects that will benefit the region, but without any direct funding going from one to the other.
RDA CEO Ben Fee had proposed spending the council funds on a report into the success of the Murray River Study Hub, with an eye on attracting Nepalese students to study and live in Murray Bridge.
However, the council decided instead to spend the money on its own economic development activities, centred on the Murraylands Skills Centre on Bridge Street.
Fee will apply for EV charging from July 1
Why is the Murray Bridge council still providing free electric vehicle charging outside its Seventh Street office?
Cr Tom Haig asked that question at the council’s April meeting, after councillors voted in January to outsource the service to a private provider.
Council CEO Heather Barclay noted that councillors had also voted to consult the community about the idea, and that the new fee would be introduced from July 1.
Manager Thuyen Vi-Alternetti said several companies had expressed an interest in operating the charging stations.
Good, Cr Clem Schubert said, describing users of the EV chargers as “bludgers”.
Three new Sunnyside properties will get new addresses
Finally, part of a road at Sunnyside will be renamed to avoid a problem with duplication of house numbers.
At present, the addresses 24, 25 and 26 Sunnyside Road, Sunnyside are each shared by two properties: one at the top of the hill and one down the bottom by the river.
The ones down the bottom always had those numbers; the ones up the top were given them automatically when South Australia introduced a new rural property addressing system about 15 years ago.
However, the double-up had the potential to cause problems for mail delivery and in case of an emergency.
Council staff originally proposed renaming the bottom part of the road Riverdene Court, but residents didn’t like that idea.
Instead, councillors voted to rename the top part Upper Sunnyside Road.
Only one property down the bottom will need to have its address changed: 13 Sunnyside Road will become 1A Burgess Road, since it has no connection to Sunnyside Road.
