Legal fight to block a $46m Aldinga Beach complex is under way

Onkaparinga Council is seeking to overturn approval for a controversial residential, holiday and retirement complex in Aldinga Beach.

Artist impression of a $46m development in Aldinga Beach.

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A legal fight to block a controversial $46 million residential, holiday and retirement complex in Aldinga Beach has started.

A closed-doors hearing between Onkaparinga Council and developer Winwest was held in the Environment Resources and Development Court last Tuesday.

The council is trying to have the state planning authority’s decision last year to approve the development, earmarked for the corner of Rowley and Aldinga Beach roads, overturned.

Artist impression of a $46m development in Aldinga Beach.

The project, branded Latitude, features 62 short-stay accommodation units in a five-storey building — including three commercial tenancies on the ground floor and a rooftop terrace.

It also includes two four-storey buildings with 36 independent living units in each and a three-storey complex with 28 residential units.

In its notice of appeal lodged with the court, the council argued Latitude was of an “excessive scale” and does not contribute to the area’s “desired character”.

“The height of the development is excessive and significantly exceeds the maximum building height of three storeys or 10.5m envisaged in the development plan,” the council’s statement says.

It added that the state planning authority “failed” to consider material issues, including the scale and prominence of the rooftop area on the serviced apartment building, when it approved the development.

Residents, including local environmental group Friends of Willunga Basin, have also lodged statements opposing the development with the court.