Mount Barker Council needs $48m for water plant upgrade, or will charge developers – pushing up house prices

Adelaide’s fastest-growing town says if it doesn’t get nearly $50m in taxpayer cash for an upgrade, it will have to take drastic action – forcing up house prices.

House prices in SA’s fastest-growing town will be forced up if the local council doesn’t get $48m in taxpayer cash to upgrade its wastewater plant, which is “beyond its useful life”, the mayor says.

Mount Barker Council has listed about $7bn in vital projects needed over the next four years as the area struggles to keep pace with its exploding population.

It’s rising by about 1000 people a year, with eight new houses weekly and the equivalent of a classroom of children every two months, after the state government rezoned 1300ha of farming land for housing in 2011.

The council’s most urgent priorities also include a second high school, expanded public transport, a Hahndorf bypass, road upgrades and two new sporting ovals.

The top of the list is a $100m upgrade for the under-capacity Laratinga wastewater treatment plant, including new pipelines into Nairne and Littlehampton, where more houses are being added to the sewage system.

However, the planning minister said it was a “council project”.

Newly built homes at Mount Barker after the 2011 rezoning.

Warning Mount Barker was only “23 to 24 per cent” through its expansion, Mayor David Leach said the council would be forced to slug developers for an “additional contribution” if it had to stump up for the whole $100m.

“Because we’ve got all this development we need a completely different plant – it’s either we do it, or SA Water does it,” he said.

Ruling out extra charges for existing customers, he said the state government had capped new connections in Adelaide’s northern growth area at $10,000, but not in the Hills.

“In Mount Barker we don’t have that subsidy from SA Water, so it has to be funded by developer contributions, which puts up the price of the house,” he said.

Planning Minister Nick Champion supported the council’s efforts to “appropriately invest in infrastructure” for population growth, but said the plant upgrade was a “council project”.

“It will either be funded through the council’s budget or the Local Government Financing Authority,” he said.

The council received a $160m loan from the authority, which included $98m for the treatment plant, but it will have to be repaid by ratepayers.

The $10,000 cap for developers connecting homes to the water system applies only to SA Water’s network – Mount Barker’s wastewater system is a council-supported scheme.

Zoe Johnson and her niece and nephew Callie, 19 months and Bobby, 6 enjoy the sunshine in Mount Barker. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Mount Barker resident Zoe Johnson, 27, who lives in her own home with niece and nephew and family, said she bought in the town because houses were cheaper.

“I grew up in Hahndorf and moved to Adelaide for a while but built my own house and moved in, in 2021 – financially, it was a cheaper place to build, but also I knew everything available in Mount Barker. Having grown up here, it was a no-brainer,” she said.

“I can take the kids out for a run, go to a movie, or kick the footy. It feels like a small country town, even though it’s not.”

The council is also seeking $2m for a $18m project to build two new synthetic soccer pitches at The Summit sport park, a second public high school for the area and said expanded public transport into surrounding towns was a “non-negotiable”.

A state government spokesperson said a business case into mass-transit between the Hills and CBD was in the works, while a review this year into regional public transport includes Strathalbyn.

A proper Hahndorf bypass road and upgrades to the tourist town’s main street is on the council’s priority list, and it’s seeking policy changes to make new Mount Barker developments require minimum green-star ratings.

WHAT ELSE MOUNT BARKER IS CALLING FOR

Expanding the popular Keoride – on-demand public transport – into outlying townships was a “quick win that would gain significant public support”, the plan says.

It also advocates for road upgrades and completions, such as the Heysen Boulevard – an unfinished major road connection through the city – and upgrades to key intersections such as the notorious Mawson, Battunga and Nottage roads in Meadows.

Mr Leach said the expansion of higher-frequency buses from the Hills to CBD was not enough, and the “bottleneck” at the bottom of the freeway needed to be addressed.

Outlying towns need buses, he said, which was separate to an expansion of Keoride – which doesn’t go to Meadows or Echunga, or smaller towns further out.

“We need a bus service that gets to small town people into Mount Barker and then into Adelaide,” he said.

He said a mass transit solution such as rail would “ultimately” be put in place between the city and Mount Barker, and beyond.

“It will take a massive investment into public works to do it – but we’re only 23, 24 per cent of the way through the expansion of Mount Barker though new housing, and the state government knows it will have to put in something different to buses, and rail is the solution – I’m sure it will happen at some stage.”

Originally published as Mount Barker Council needs $48m for water plant upgrade, or will charge developers – pushing up house prices