Supported Affordable Accommodation Trust ordered to pay $60k for sewerage, water works at Bridgewater development

An inflexible approach to headworks charges had forced a charity to pay for infrastructure upgrades that mainly benefited private developers who came after them, Labor says.

Labor MP Ella Haddad and party leader Rebecca White speak to the media at Bridgewater on Monday, October 9, 2023.

An inflexible approach to headworks charges had forced a charity to pay for infrastructure upgrades that mainly benefited private developers who came after them, Labor says.

The Supported Affordable Accommodation Trust was required to pay $60,000 for upgrades to water and sewerage infrastructure at the site of a two-unit development at Bridgewater.

But the developers of 50 units nearby paid nothing.

Labor leader Rebecca White said it was part of an unfair slug on first-movers which was holding up projects around the state.

“So a not-for-profit in this instance … has paid to develop two units and they pay the full cost of upgrading the infrastructure,” she said.

“Then there’s another developer on the back of that who’s building 50 units for profit, they don’t have to pay at all to contribute.

Labor MP Ella Haddad and party leader Rebecca White speak to the media at Bridgewater on Monday, October 9, 2023.

“We’ve seen many instances like this across the state where the first mover is penalised because they’re building homes.

“We need to remove that and a Labor government would work with our utilities to make sure that first mover isn’t penalised so we can get more houses built.”

The Chair of the Supported Affordable Accommodation Trust Bob Gordon said it being slugged the full cost of a rising main by TasWater “to push excrement uphill” was typical of

the charity’s experience with red tape generally.

“It’s taken two and a half years to get titles issued, to get planning and development approvals,” he said of the Bridgewater development.

“Of the 12 houses we’ve built, the quickest we’ve had from the time we’ve started the process until the time the house has been occupied has been 15 months – an on average about six weeks has been the time to build.

“The system seems to be broken. It’s not just power and water, it’s the Tasmanian Fire Service and a whole lot of other statutory authorities who do not give a clear and timely response and it just adds up.

“We’re a very small charity, we’ve only got 12 houses, it’s a major issue for us getting the approvals in a timely manner.’

Minister for Planning Michael Ferguson said investment in residential construction in Tasmania was booming.

“Under Labor and the Greens, we saw investment collapse in Tasmania and under the Tasmanian Liberal government we’ve seen people moving to Tasmania, our population has now grown to 570,000 and we’ve seen records being set in terms of new land release and new houses being built,” he said.

“Our government have now in place a program to bring forward more residential land release and rebates available for developers to assist them with headworks charges like Tasnetworks and TasWater charges.”

Originally published as Supported Affordable Accommodation Trust ordered to pay $60k for sewerage, water works at Bridgewater development