🏘️ Housing

Thousand-home plan could tame Murray Bridge’s wild west

Today's wide open paddocks could be tomorrow’s suburbs if a council plan gets up. Here’s how to have your say.

Peri Strathearn

Mar 21, 2023 — 2 min read

Today’s brown paddocks and broken-down glasshouses may become tomorrow’s trendy new neighbourhood. Photo: Peri Strathearn.

Should 1000 new homes be built in Murray Bridge’s west?

Local residents will be asked that question later this year as the city’s council goes public with a plan to open up more land for housing.

As Murray Bridge News reported in January, an amendment to local planning laws would change three parcels of land, totalling 113 hectares, from a rural living zone into a master-planned township zone.

That would make it easier for landowners to subdivide and sell off their paddocks – something many have wanted to do for years.

State Planning Minister Nick Champion agreed to get the ball rolling on the process on March 10; a public consultation will follow in September.

Mayor Wayne Thorley said the proposal would be good for Murray Bridge.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Murray Bridge to grow and support our expanding workforce, and for home buyers to be part of one of the fastest-growing communities in SA – all with a country lifestyle,” he said.

“It also enables us to seek additional support services for the residents of Murray Bridge and is a great outcome for our thriving community.”

Nick Champion, centre, pictured with Peter Malinauskas and Nat Cook, has trumpeted the Murray Bridge council plan. Photo: Nick Champion MP/Facebook.

State Planning Minister Nick Champion said the plan was a good example of a local government responding to community need.

“We encourage other councils to strategically lead similar code amendments to free up more land for residential properties,” he said.

“Increasing land supply in the right places, backed by good infrastructure and amenities, will create more diverse and affordable housing options to meet the needs of our state’s growing population.”

The three areas of land to be affected by the zoning change, as shown in the map below, are:

53ha along Bremer Road, west of Grasslands Drive
A 48ha triangle between Adelaide Road, Old Swanport Road and Zerna Avenue
12ha on Commerce Road, between Bywaters and Brinkley Roads

It will become easier to subdivide land for housing in these three areas if the public approves a planning and development code amendment. Image: Rural City of Murray Bridge.

The council had wanted to change the zoning in the area since 2014, when the city’s population began booming.

But changes to South Australia’s planning system by the previous state government put the plan on hold for more than five years – a delay Councillor Airlie Keen described as “costly” for locals.

Further land will be opened up for housing in future as part of a long-term council plan to accommodate 3100 homes, a new school and other developments by 2040.

In the meantime, a local housing shortage is overwhelming homelessness services and forcing governments and employers to consider innovative ways of getting accommodation built sooner.