Byron Shire Council have recognised 1,454 flood-affected homes in Byron Shire that could benefit from the government’s much touted assistance via its Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC).
Within Greens Cr Duncan Dey’s motion, passed at last week’s Council meeting, councillors resolved to lobby NSW Liberal Premier Dominic Perottet around making existing buildings safer against flood risks.
In a letter to be sent to the premier, councillors will thank him for the NSW Government’s ‘efforts on flood-relief and on re-housing flood-displaced people’.
The letter will also remind him of ‘the opportunities as expressed in the state’s Floodplain Risk Management Plans to make existing buildings safer against flood risks’.
The ‘legacy role of the state in having approved buildings in flood-prone areas’ is also highlighted, as is ‘the likelihood that many of Byron Shire’s buildings can be returned to use by these actions (especially house raising), because peak flood levels are not as deep as in other areas’.
A quantum of funding potentially required for the Shire’s buildings to be made more resilient was included, ‘costed [at] an indicative average of $100,000 per building at a minimum of $145m, excluding buybacks, which could be an additional $35m’.
Council’s Floodplain Management Advisory Committee will also receive a report on flood resilience options, and on further investigation needed for properties impacted by the 2022 floods.
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