Port Elliot’s popular swimming pontoon is set to return to Horseshoe Bay for the remainder of the summer, following a special meeting of Alexandrina Council last Monday 23 December.

Reinstallation will take place as soon as the contractor is available and it will remain until the end of the surf lifesaving season, after Easter 2025.

It will be funded with in-kind support from Goolwa Jetty Builders and, if required, offers of personal financial support from Finniss MP David Basham, the Owler family and Thomas Foods. 

Alexandrina Mayor Keith Parkes hopes the pontoon will be back in place in early January.

“I am personally pleased that we have been able to find a solution that should put the pontoon back into Horseshoe Bay as soon as the Goolwa Jetty Builders can fit us in, hopefully in the coming week. I’d like to thank this local business for their generous in- kind support.” 

The council decision followed a meeting hosted by the SA Coastal Councils Alliance (SACCA) on 18 December to discuss a more reasonable approach to the management of pontoons

across South Australia.

Alexandrina Council says it has been in discussion with the Local Government Risk Service/Mutual Liability Scheme (indemnifier), resulting in a revised management regime and significantly reduced compliance costs.

The main change is dropping the requirement for daily inspections by boat or drone. Instead there will be weekly inspections from the shore, which the council can accommodate as part of its weekly open space inspections in the area.

The pontoon has been a feature of Horseshoe Bay since 2012. It washed ashore in September after being damaged during a storm and breaking free of its mooring.

The council will hold a workshop in February to consider long-term management of the pontoon to which it will invite interested community organisations. It expects to make a decision ahead of the end of the surf lifesaving season in April.

MP David Basham has been an enthusiastic supporter of the community campaign for the pontoon's return to the water, personally pledging $10,000 towards the cause.

"I am excited to see the pontoon used again this year for Surf Life Saving, social swimming groups, children having fun, and VacSwim programs that teach ocean safety to our children and save lives."

Mayor Keith Parkes says the council has a responsibility to consider the risks, public liability requirements, maintenance obligations and financial impacts to the whole community.

“It’s been a mammoth job by Council, SACCA, the LGA, our financial and in-kind donors, our community, and our indemnifiers to come to this position where we can place this much-loved asset back in the water at no additional cost to ratepayers while making sure we are insured.

“Based on initial advice, we were looking at significant costs to cover boat inspections seven days a week and biannual underwater engineering inspections.

“I would like to extend my thanks to the LGA and SACCA for their advocacy and thank the Mutual Liability Scheme, our indemnifiers, for working with us to come to a less onerous compliance program of weekly inspections from shore, monthly inspections by boat or drone and an annual structural assessment of the pontoon and mooring.

“Alexandrina is not the only council that has inherited the responsibility and associated costs of installing, maintaining and insuring pontoons due to community groups being unable to obtain commercial insurance. We know other coastal communities are watching our outcome.

The District Council of Yankalilla has recently been through a similar process with its pontoon at Normanville, which was reinstalled before Christmas.