North Wagga residents have been left frustrated after a decision on a flood protection levee in the area was further delayed this week.
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A long-awaited independent peer review of the 2018 Floodplain Risk Management Plan (FRMP) failed to provide answers for North Wagga residents, who want a levee to protect their suburb from one-in-100-year floods.
Under the plan, Central Wagga was approved for a higher levee that was completed in 2020. However North Wagga, which also sits on a floodplain, was recommended for a one-in-20-year protection levee and voluntary house raising or buying.
The proposal was rejected by community groups and last year council agreed to a third-party peer review of the plan after years of pressure from unhappy northern residents, but the conclusions many hoped for have not been reached.
Independent reviewers BMT reported errors in the management plan that it said has made any conclusion on the viability of the higher levee impossible until they are resolved. In a response to council, the authors of the original plan WMAwater rejected the finding the initial report contained errors.
Until a resolution is found and an answer is provided by BMT, the prospect of improved flood protection for North Wagga remains uncertain.
North Wagga resident Kirby Judd said the community is feeling frustrated, but is not prepared to stop fighting for the same flood protection afforded to the rest of the city.
"I think we're definitely beyond being patient," she said.
"We pay our rates just as much as everyone else so why are we not entitled to the levee on our side of town?
"Most people are fed up with having to wait.
"We're paying ridiculous amounts of insurance over this side of town without a levee to protect us, it's really frustrating."
President of the North Wagga Residents Association Fiona Ziff said the delay is proof the 2018 plan needs to be revised.
"I want to draw attention to the fact that BMT can't make a conclusion yet because there is so much information missing," she said.
Ms Ziff described the remainder of the report as "damning", pointing to findings that community consultation was lacking in the initial 2018 plan.
"How could the whole floodplain committee sign off on a report that excludes the very community they're investigating flood management for?" she said.
In the preliminary report, BMT found that the consultation process "appeared to be insufficient".
We're paying ridiculous amounts of insurance over this side of town without a levee to protect us, it's really frustrating.
- North Wagga resident Kirby Judd
Its review concluded that WMAwater did not engage residents of North Wagga in the initial stages of consultations and did not sufficiently respond to the high number of responses received during the document's exhibition period.
In its initial three-page response to the review, WMAwater said a number of BMT's recommendations were inconsistent with NSW policy and jurisdictional advice.
It also said none of the recommendations would significantly alter the final outcome of the study.
However, Councillor Rod Kendall said overall the BMT review showed the 2018 plan was "robust".
"There is some differing professional opinion between WMAwater and BMT," he said.
"What council is wanting to achieve in the quickest possible time is a resolution of that professional difference."
IN OTHER NEWS:
At Monday's council meeting, councillors will vote on a recommendation to facilitate a speedy resolution between the two consulting firms.
Mayor Greg Conkey said ideally the issues will be resolved in one meeting to avoid further delays.
"The next step is that the two experts will sit down and get together and to discuss the issues that both have and then hopefully most of these issues can be resolved by these two consultants," Cr Conkey said.
"If there are some discrepancies, if they can't agree, that is when we believe that [the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment] should become involved."
Cr Kendall said time is of the essence, with North Wagga still largely unprotected from a major flooding event four years after the FRMP was finalised, and the resolution needed to be reached as quickly as possible.
"It's absolutely critical for North Wagga," he said.
"While that question is unanswered, at the request of North Wagga, any further flood protection is stalled."
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