NORTH Wagga residents living "in constant fear of flooding" have threatened to take Wagga City Council to court as they ramp up their fight to have the same protection as other parts of the city.
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A lawyer acting on behalf of the North Wagga Residents Association has written to the council, reinforcing residents' wishes of a one-in-100-year levee for the suburb.
The levee is a flood mitigation project worth $6.81 million, according to a state government report from 2015.
"It is understood that $6.8 million has been allocated by the state government for North Wagga levee works but the council is minded to divert those monies to other purposes," the letter said.
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It has been suggested in the letter that "ulterior commercial pecuniary interests" could be influencing the levee decision-making and outcome.
In June this year, the council's Floodplain Risk Management Advisory Committee selected two options to consider in more detail, including raising the height of the North Wagga levee to a one-in-20-year protection and voluntary house-raising.
Both options had been accepted and the council was in the process of feasibility studies.
Mayor Greg Conkey has declined to comment due to the threat of legal action.
North Wagga Residents Association treasurer Fiona Ziff said people living in the suburb deserved the same level of protection as those living in the floodplain in central Wagga, who had been granted a one-in-100-year levee.
The North Wagga residents are demanding the council extend the same safeguard - and all the development rights that come with such level of protection - to the suburb, and that the state government money allocated for the works be used accordingly.
"It is traumatic for North Wagga residents," she said.
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"Not only do we have to live in constant fear of flooding, which most of them [residents] are not insured for because it is too expensive, but the only people who have the power to help them (apart from our lawyer) is the council, who clearly do not intend to protect them.
Ms Ziff said the association wants to know the council's reason for excluding North Wagga from the protections it granted central Wagga.
"There are two main residential areas in the floodplain. Both areas deserve the right to adequate flood protection," she said.
The North Wagga Residents Association has given the council 14 days to provide a positive response, otherwise legal action will be taken.