Adelaide City Council decides to refuse an application to keep Torrens pontoon in the water for a further two years

The River Torrens will be pontoon free from April, after the Adelaide City Council decided to sink any chance of the controversial structure getting a further two years of life.

The pontoon on the Torrens River. Picture: AAP / Roy Van Der Vegt

The controversial River Torrens pontoon has been issued its last rites after the Adelaide City Council decided to sink any chance of it staying afloat for another two years.

Despite giving the Adelaide Festival Corporation one more chance to convince members why it should stay in the water after its April 30 “expiry date”, the council decided last night to reverse this decision and refuse any further lease.

Councillor Anne Moran proposed that the council torpedo the pontoon, a motion supported by all elected members.

Adelaide Festival directors Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy at the Riverbank Palais, a highlight of the 2017 Festival of Arts.

Deputy Lord Mayor Houssam Abiad said the council had provided the Festival Corporation every chance to show them how the next two years would be any different for the pontoon, which has been labelled an eyesore, especially when not in use. 

“Unfortunately, they haven’t been successful in convincing council that they could improve it over the next two years,” he said.

The pontoon has been in and out of the news. It was a highlight of the 2017 Festival of Arts, bringing the River Torrens alive with a replica of the Palais de Danse that graced Elder Park a hundred years ago.