Byron Shire Council staff have issued an update on Byron Shire’s flood-damaged infrastructure from the 2022 floods, and say they are applying for around $200 million in funding to cover the repair and reconstruction costs for roads, bridges, causeways and guardrails.
In a press release on Monday, staff say 42 separate funding applications have been submitted to the state and federal governments via Transport for NSW (TfNSW) for over 600 pieces of infrastructure.
Director Infrastructure Services, Phil Holloway said, ‘We are in the same boat as all the other flood-affected councils in our region, waiting for news on the status of a number of our funding applications lodged to date, to repair the damage done by the floods last year’.
‘And we are competing with our neighbouring councils, and all the other councils in NSW that had infrastructure damaged by the floods last year for this funding.
‘This is a very rigorous process and extremely time-consuming, because not only do we prepare the case for flood damage and subsequent funding, but TfNSW staff need to check every single detail of each claim’.
New grant deadline
He says TfNSW’s original application approval deadline of June 30 has moved to December 31, 2023.
‘We have more than 50 per cent of our applications lodged for funding approval and tracking through the TfNSW process, and the preparation of the remaining applications is well advanced,’ Mr Holloway added.
‘While 600 pieces of infrastructure is a lot, it doesn’t mean every single piece of road in the Shire is going to get an upgrade and we want to manage people’s expectations around that. This is just the start of the continuous process of assessing our roads and getting them on our list to be programmed for repairs and upgrades,” Mr Holloway said.
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