The $54 million Highlands Source Project has stalled after the Goulburn Mulwaree Shire Local Council has been denied access to five properties.

 

The project, designed to connect Gouldburn to the Wingcarribee Reservoir, hopes to secure water supply in the Goulburn area for the next 40 years.

 

The council will now be forced to compulsorily aquire tracts of land that the pipeline will run through after a dispute between local land owners and local government resulted in the refusal to allow the pipeline through private property.

 

"We're hoping most of them won't end up taking up too much court time and it won't add too much significant cost to the project but, we have already got contingencies allowed for these particular properties," Council's Director of Engineering Terry Cooper said in an interview with The ABC.

 

The council believes the delay will not cause a blowout in budget.