Murraylands council watch: August 2026
The Coorong council responds to demand for housing, a plan to share wind farm wealth is floated, the lack of EV charging at Mannum is questioned and more.
Here’s what the Murray Bridge, Mid Murray and Coorong councils have been up to this month. This story is now free to read. Help Murray Bridge News tell more stories like this by subscribing today.
Coorong council changes tack on housing project
The Coorong council has redoubled its efforts to kickstart a housing development at Tailem Bend.
Councillors voted last week to seek expressions of interest from anyone interested in leasing or buying a council-owned property on Kulde Road.
The council purchased the vacant block for $220,000 just 14 months ago, with the intention of rezoning it for housing and then selling it at a profit.
It currently remains zoned for rural use, but acting Mayor Jonathan Pietzsch said the council had not abandoned its plan – far from it.
“The timeline on it might be a bit earlier … there might be someone who can step in and start on that (housing development) as the rezoning goes through,” he said.
“We’re testing the market to see if we can accelerate it.
“We’re starting to see industry come into the district, and that’s going to put demand on housing.”
After a discussion held behind closed doors, councillors voted unanimously to “evaluate potential market opportunities, with nil obligation to accept or proceed with any offer”.
Staff will prepare a report for councillors’ consideration before any decision is made about whether to proceed with a sale or lease.
Mid Murray communities will share benefits of renewable energy investment
The Mid Murray council has voted to establish a community benefits fund to share the wealth generated by renewable energy projects in the district.
Councillors this month approved a policy which sets out how much money developers should contribute to the fund, and how funds may be distributed through a community grants program.
Wind farm operators will be asked to contribute $1050 per megawatt, per year; solar farm operators $850; and battery operators $150.
Participation in the scheme will be voluntary, but the developers of one major project – the Palmer Wind Farm – have already indicated their willingness to chip in.
The policy does not currently cover data centres, but council staff suggested it could be modified to include them in future.
Still no EV chargers for Mannum
Fast charging facilities for electric vehicles have been available at other Murraylands towns for some time, but Mannum remains without one.
Why, asked Mayor Simone Bailey at the Mid Murray council’s August meeting?
Councillors were told that the RAA, which was building a network of chargers across South Australia, had advised that there was no easy access point for high-voltage power at Mannum.
“The location of Mannum was raised … with the RAA, however this has not been progressed,” Ms Bailey said.
“I think it is stopping visitors – I had a few calls during the floods where they went to Murray Bridge rather than Mannum because there was no charger here.”
The council had considered building its own charging station outside the visitor info centre some years ago, but decided that the cost would be too great.
Specialist charging infrastructure exists at nine other locations across Murray Bridge, Tailem Bend and Monarto, including tourist destinations such as Monarto Safari Park and the Bend Motorsport Park.
Fixes proposed for narrow Melville Terrace
Residents of a narrow Murray Bridge street are being asked which of five options they prefer as the city’s council figures out how to solve their problems.
Melville Terrace residents approached Murray Bridge News and the council in February, arguing that house construction on the southwestern side had left the road too narrow for parking, rubbish trucks or emergency services.
Staff presented five possible solutions, but no costs, at the council’s August meeting:
- Use line marking to indicate where it was safe to park
- Widen the road by 1.2 metres on the southwestern side
- Install roll-over kerbing on the northeastern side to allow partially off-street parking
- Restrict access to the road
- A combination of the above options
Cr Tom Haig described the situation as a disaster for residents: “To get out of their driveway, they just about have to do an advanced driving course.”
Councillors will make a decision about which option is best after receiving those costs, and any public feedback, in the coming months.
Train carriages will hopefully be removed soon
Six historic but run-down train carriages at Tailem Bend will finally be moved on to their new resting place in the near future, if the Coorong council has anything to say about it.
Council roads and infrastructure director Joel Eckermann said the carriages had been sold a long time ago, for a modest price, but that the buyer had struggled to work through the regulations needed to actually take them away.
"We have done our best to provide support, to provide connections to the authorities and to the different resources that they need to logistically put that operation together to shift those carriages," he said at the council's August meeting.
"We're probably at the point where we've done all we can.
"My next step is to, I guess, reach out to the gentleman and (ask): is he going to achieve it or not?"
The council offered the former accident train for sale by tender in 2023, sparking much reminiscing about the town's railway history.
Regional mayors will be short-changed by election timing
South Australia’s regional councils will be unfairly disadvantaged by the rescheduling of local government elections, the mayors of Murray Bridge and the Coorong say.
A key advocacy role, the presidency of LGA SA, is typically held by a metropolitan or a regional mayor in alternating two-year periods.
But a delay to council elections – pushed back until next April – means a regional mayor will hold the position for a shorter period than a metropolitan mayor during the next four-year cycle.
At their August meetings, Murray Bridge Mayor Wayne Thorley said that was not fair or equitable; Coorong councillors voted to ask that the LGA develop a new election process.
"This has always been an issue in terms of timing, and now even more so by the decision to extend the local government term," acting Mayor Jonathan Pietzsch said.
"With the extension of term, that (election) could be halfway through a presidency."
No Murraylands mayor sits on the LGA board or is eligible to serve as president, though Mid Murray’s Simone Bailey and Karoonda East Murray’s Caroline Phillips are on the board of the SA Regional Organisation of Councils, a subsidiary.
Each of those mayors has indicated an intention to step down at the upcoming election.
Records management team wins a prize
Not everyone can be an Olympian, but everyone deserves a chance to be recognised for their work, and the Murray Bridge council’s records management team has done just that in the wake of the Lerwin Nursing Home’s sale to private operators.
The small team won the Bernadette Bean Award, a state award for excellence in records management, for its handling of 480,000 pages of sensitive information and 430 boxes of archival material during the transition.
CEO Heather Barclay said she was very proud: “This award is a well-deserved recognition of the expertise, commitment and professionalism of a team that continues to go above and beyond for our council.”
In brief:
- Applications for community grants from the Murray Bridge council will close at will close at 4.45pm on September 4; find out more and apply at www.murraybridge.sa.gov.au
- The Murray Bridge council has paid $5800 to the owner of a property on the corner of Chaucer Terrace and Lugard Street to resolve an historic boundary issue; the council had accidentally veered onto private property while upgrading the intersection some years ago
- Murray Bridge Riding Club has been begrudgingly granted a rate rebate worth almost $1300 despite having submitted an application late; councillors hope to come up with a consistent policy on late applications in the near future
- A metal artwork will be installed at Rockleigh’s old school house after the local progress association was granted approval by the Mid Murray council
- Murray Bridge residents can now access information about emergencies, power and water outages, weather and fire danger forecasts and more at an online emergency dashboard: emergency.murraybridge.sa.gov.au
- The Murray Bridge council has rejected a suggestion from Murray Bridge News that it would be appropriate to advertise public consultations more widely in local media, on the basis that it would cost ratepayers more; councillors voted to finalise a community engagement policy without any changes
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly suggested the Coorong council had abandoned its plan for the land on Kulde Road.
