Murray Bridge council watch: September 2025
Councillors order an audit at Lerwin, list rural roads which need upgrading, get impatient about rezoning in Murray Bridge’s west and more.
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Lerwin audit ordered as costs escalate
The Murray Bridge council has ordered an audit of the Lerwin Nursing Home amid concerns about its financial sustainability.
The council spends more than $12 million per year operating the residential aged care facility, a cost which has increased by 50 per cent in the past four years.
Consultants BDO will report back to the council’s audit and risk committee with information on:
- forecast facility requirements at Lerwin
- forecast care requirements
- an upcoming change to the way residents’ financial deposits are handled
- the impact of all three factors on council revenue, spending and staffing levels over the long term
Back in July, council CEO Heather Barclay flagged the cost of operating Lerwin as one of the reasons Murray Bridge ratepayers would face higher property rates bills this year.
A range of new rules for the aged care sector will come into effect on November 1, in line with the 2021 recommendations of a Royal Commission into the industry.
Freight bypass, Brinkley, Avoca Dell and Callington roads are priority one
A bypass through Monarto, freight routes at Brinkley and a road into a growing residential area are among 10 roads the Murray Bridge council has marked as a top priority for upgrades.
Councillors last week approved an update to the council’s priority road enhancement list, used to determine how road funding should be spent if any becomes available.
Listed as priority one are:
- Avoca Dell Drive at Avoca Dell, from the riverfront to the Karoonda Highway
- Parts of Jaensch and Cemetery Roads at Callington
- The last section of Long Flat Road at Long Flat, near the Riverpark estate
- Paech Road at Monarto
- Pope, Pearson, Richards and Pfeiffer Roads at Brinkley
- Roads earmarked for the Murray Bridge freight bypass: Ferries McDonald Road at Monarto South, Schenscher Road at Monarto and Pallamana and Wagenknecht Roads at Pallamana
Also flagged is the intersection of Kepa and Junction Roads at Kepa.
The council last updated the priority list in 2019.
It used the previous version to allocate $6 million in road funding, sealing 15 kilometres of Pope and Flagstaff Roads at Brinkley and Maurice Road at Rocky Gully.
Paperwork holds up thousand-home development
Frustration is rising in Murray Bridge’s west as residents wait for 113 hectares of land to be rezoned for housing.
The rezoning plan has been on the go for a decade now, having been waylaid by a years-long pause during changes to South Australia’s planning system in the late 2010s.
Last September, Planning Minister Nick Champion announced that a first-of-its-kind infrastructure deal with the Murray Bridge council would make sure local roads, stormwater pipes and so on would be rolled out in an organised fashion.
A year later, though, work on the basic infrastructure scheme is still ongoing.
Until it’s done, the land cannot be subdivided for housing.
Councillors voted last week to ask the minister to give interim approval for the land to be rezoned, pending completion of the infrastructure scheme, so that developers could at least start their work.
“We want to push it along as fast as possible,” Councillor Airlie Keen said.
Mayor Wayne Thorley used some Tony Abbott-esque language to describe the way in which he would pressure Mr Champion to take action, though he later asked Murray Bridge News not to use the exact term.
“I’ll be very assertive,” he said, anyway.
Up to 1000 homes may be able to be built on three parcels of land in Murray Bridge’s west after it is rezoned for the purpose.
Hay, we just noticed something...
An administrative stuff-up means a road being built through a Murray Bridge housing development will keep its original name, even though the council originally said “no” to it.
The road, at the Narooma Rise development, will be named Hay Street after all.
Councillors had vetoed the name a year ago, saying there was already another road with the same name in the district, at Callington.
They suggested “Meadow Way” instead.
But the original name was accidentally included in a document sent to planning authorities, and four of the 14 blocks on the road were sold before anyone realised the error.
Oh well – councillors voted last week to allow the Hay Street name to remain.
Answer is still ‘no’, council tells RDA
The Murray Bridge council is holding firm on its decision not to fund the local branch of Regional Development Australia for now.
Councillors voted this month to turn down the option of a $30,000 “partnership” with RDA, two years after they decided not to fund the organisation any longer and just two months after declining another approach.
“This is getting really annoying,” Cr Tom Haig said.
“What part of ‘you’re not getting the money’ does the RDAMR not understand?”
It remains to be seen whether the relationship between the two organisations will change as Julie Bates takes over as CEO at RDA Murraylands and Riverland.
More safety signage is needed at Palmer turn-off, councillor says
Should additional signage be erected on Reedy Creek Road, ahead of the Mannum Road T-junction, to let drivers know about the hazard ahead?
Councillor Clem Schubert thinks so, and raised the issue at the Murray Bridge council’s September meeting.
The council will write to the state Department of Infrastructure and Transport, requesting an upgrade.
Council volunteers are loving life
An overwhelming majority of Murray Bridge council volunteers say they would recommend the experience to others, according to a council survey.
Ninety-five per cent of respondents to the recent survey said they would recommend volunteering with the council, and more than 90% said they felt valued and included, had met people, had been given adequate training and direction, and that their skills were being used well.
The council’s 200-plus volunteers give about 20,000 hours of service to the community each year, greeting tourists, transporting passengers and removing graffiti, among other duties.
“I’d really like to see local media … run a story on this survey, and just how appreciated our volunteers are,” Cr Tom Haig suggested, rather pointedly, at last week’s council meeting.
- Read more: National Volunteer Week
