Christine Webster, Murray Pioneer

Morgan has been identified as the second-top town to have growth potential in an early engagement community and stakeholder survey, conducted by Adelaide-based firm URPS, for Mid Murray Council.

A report by the consultant was recently accepted by Mid Murray Council.

In its ‘Early Engagement Summary Report for the Mid Murray Growth Management Housing Strategy’, URPS said 75 responses were received in a survey it conducted and 35 people took part in workshops at Morgan, Truro and Mannum.

Three written submissions were also received. The research is part of a project that received nearly $341,000 from the Federal Government’s $1.5bn Housing Support Program in July last year.

URPS has been engaged to develop the growth management and housing plan.

Its interim report said the participants of the early consultations have ranked Morgan as the second town most suitable for more growth, after Mannum.

According to URPS, 21 per cent of those that took part in the survey identified Morgan as their second choice for more housing to be developed and 37 per cent chose Mannum.

Swan Reach was ranked by 11 per cent of those surveyed as their fourth choice for more housing and Blanchetown was a popular second or third choice.

The report said the respondents who ranked Mannum first said more houses should be developed there, because it was the district’s biggest town and it was already growing.

It was also identified as a service hub with the most shops, facilities and infrastructure in the council area with existing subdivisions available and lots of space for growth.

Morgan was chosen as the second town with the most potential for more housing to be established due to having “land available and room to grow”.

Some of the survey participants also said Morgan had “basic facilities and a supermarket and needed growth to survive”.

They also said the “council presence” was also a reason for establishing more housing in Morgan.

The River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve’s core site is the Swan Reach Conservation Park.

Some of the participants of the survey highlighted that employment opportunities provided by the ecotourism attraction meant that workers needed houses.

The report said affordable housing was also needed for those taking up employment opportunities in the potato and almond industries.

Blanchetown was also identified as needing more housing.

Community input needed for growth

Mid Murray Council is encouraging the community and stakeholders to contribute to the development of a growth management and housing strategy for the district.

Adelaide-based firm URPS will release its draft recommendations to council later this year and a final strategy will be developed.

Mid Murray Mayor Simone Bailey said a good cross section of the community took part in initial consultations by the consultant in November last year.

Workshops were held in Morgan, Truro and Mannum and attracted 35 participants over the three workshops.

“We would have liked more engagement, but we had enough people there to make a really good start,” Ms Bailey said.

She said hopefully more people would become involved in the consultations when the draft strategy was released later in the year.

URPS also recently presented its ‘Early Engagement Summary Report for the Mid Murray Growth Management Housing Strategy’ to council’s Strategic Growth and Economic Activation Committee (SGEAC).

“We had a briefing and that committee determined areas where land use codes might need to be changed,” she said.

Ms Bailey said this information has been provided to URPS to assist it in developing the draft strategy.

She said as well as elected members the (SGEAC) also had community members with a range of experience that would provide a strong contribution to the growth and housing plan.

Ms Bailey said the strategy would assist council in identifying where investment in housing was suitable and support it with future grant funding applications.

“It will develop a plan for council to go in partnership with developers and identify what each town needs, to enable growth, and assist in informed decision making,” she said. 

This article appeared in the Murray Pioneer, 5 March 2025.