A LOCAL councillor is calling for further residential development in the Berri Barmera area, as the council prepares to put together its long-term growth strategy.
At the latest Berri Barmera Council meeting in July, deputy mayor Ella Winnall put forth a motion for council staff to investigate the potential for a parcel of council-owned land on Hill Street in Barmera to be developed into residential properties, with a report to be presented at the September council meeting.
Cr Winnall said a lack of available residential land for new houses could serve as a “potential barrier to population growth for potential new residents looking to build”.
“Like most of the community, I want to see Berri Barmera grow to be the best it can be. Attracting new residents and development is a really important piece of that,” she said.
“Probably one of the most consistent pieces of feedback I hear from across the community is that they feel there isn’t a lot of residential land available for the type of living they’re looking for.
“The growth strategy is a really important piece of work that will help council to prioritise strategic land development, but that big picture work takes time.
“I think we can investigate smaller opportunities in the meantime to respond a bit faster to community needs.”
Cr Winnall said locals had identified several areas where residential development would be suitable.
“I’ve been contacted by quite a few community members in the last week about other parcels of land they think would be good to develop,” she said.
“Each of them has their own quirks to investigate and many of them are the type of big vision development that will need to form part of the growth strategy.
“There’s plenty of privately-owned land too. I hope with the recent HomeBuilder building stimulus we might see new housing in Berri Barmera.”
The council has allocated $60,000 in this financial year for the development of the growth strategy for Berri and Barmera.