Angle Vale home construction stalled, government says, despite taxpayers’ $59m fix – but developers disagree

Construction on 1400 homes is being delayed, the government claims, as it moved to judge who has to pay for what. But developers and the council disagree.

Stalled construction of houses at Angle Vale in Adelaide’s north will be kickstarted by government intervention amid claims of disagreements over who has to pay for critical infrastructure – but developers say there’s no stall at all.

After the construction of almost 1400 houses at Angle Vale faltered because of missing water and sewerage infrastructure, the government in May announced taxpayers would fund a $59m fix.

This week, the government said the delivery of houses had been delayed for another reason – a stalemate over who should pay for common infrastructure such as roads, kerbs, footpaths, street lighting and stormwater.

The government said funds collected through deeds, executed in 2011, had not kept up with the increased costs of construction, leaving insufficient funds to build public infrastructure.

Housing Minister Nick Champion said the government would intervene by creating an infrastructure scheme to apportion the costs between landholders, the council and other asset owners.

Artist impression of The Entrance at Angle Vale. Pic: Fairland

“We have houses at Angle Vale waiting to be built but there’s no action because there’s not enough money to deliver the civil infrastructure and all parties are at an impasse,” Mr Champion said.

“The numerous developers and the council can’t agree on a way forward, so the government will intervene.”

However, Playford City Council and four of the property developers involved have rejected the government’s claims.

Playford Council Mayor Glenn Docherty said: “Development delays in Angle Vale are not due to disagreements between council and developers. The primary cause is the lack of potable water and sewer services.”

Fairmont Homes’ Angle Vale The Entrance estate.

He said the council had borrowed money to build infrastructure to meet its obligations under the deeds.

“Unlike council, the state government has chosen not to debt-fund its share of infrastructure delivery at the time of rezoning in northern Adelaide, including upgrades to state-owned roads,” Mr Docherty said.

The developers building houses at Angle Vale are Metro Homes, Palumbo, Fairland, Lanser and Dellta.

In a statement on behalf of the latter three, Urban Development Institute SA CEO Liam Golding said SA Water constraints had caused delays, but these issues had already been fixed.

He denied disagreements over property deeds had caused delays.

An example of housing under construction at Angle Vale.

Palumbo managing director Daniel Palumbo also denied disagreements over the deeds had caused delays.

He said Playford Council had “not been transparent” regarding how much money the council had collected through deeds.

The mayor strongly rejected this claim, saying the council reported yearly on infrastructure deeds in a publicly available annual report.

The government said it had already begun investigating the infrastructure scheme to consolidate all parties into one agreement. The investigations are expected to take three to six months.

Metro Homes did not respond to a request for comment.

Originally published as Angle Vale home construction stalled, government says, despite taxpayers’ $59m fix – but developers disagree