Who funds repairs to the 2022 landslip at Terranora is up for debate again at today’s Tweed Shire Council (TSC) meeting.
The landslip near Illawong Crescent, Terranora affected Council land, damaged a public walkway and impacted privately held land upslope and downslope of the Council land.
The TSC had extended a negotiation period with both upslope and downslope landowners in October 2024 for six months and are again recommending another six month extension as ‘considerable progress has been made in these negotiations but agreement has not been reached’.
A $300,000 grant from the Office of Local Government (OLG) Flood Recovery Grants has been used on
pre-construction investigations, slope monitoring and design works for rehabilitation and a Community Asset Program (CAP) funding under Category D of the Natural Disaster Funding Arrangements (NDRA) of $1.55 million is available but can only be used if the public walkway is restored.
$3.4 million shortfall
The staff report recommends that TSC pursue ‘Technical Solution 3’ that would reinstate original landform with improved drainage and reinstate walkway. The estimated costs of this solution is $5.116m leaving a shortfall of $3.4m.
Staff have said there are three possible solutions to fund the shortfall. The first option is for downslope landowners to fully fund it with TSC noting that ‘grants would cover a significant portion, and the majority of works are for the benefit of the downslope landowners’.
If a negotiation can’t be reached in that format the council could ‘enforce all impacted upslope and downslope landowners to fund an adjusted shortfall amount’, however this would not fully fund the repairs.
Thirdly, a special rate variation (SRV) could be applied to all ratepayers of Tweed Shire with a one-off 3.3 per cent SRV on top of the rate pegging increase of 4.4 per cent for 2025/26.
This would increase ‘rates by approximately $124.74 per property up to an average $1,745 per annum’.
Basic remediation
If none of these solutions are options then the staff recommend that council reverts to ‘Technical Solution 1’ that will see council do ‘minimal works to cleanup and reshape site and provide vegetation cover to existing ground with no walkway reinstated. They would have to return the $1.55m CAP funding. That would cost approximately $200,000.
You can watch the TSC meeting via livestream from 3.30pm today at: https://www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/council/councillors-meetings/council-meetings or go in person to the Murwillumbah Civic and Cultural Centre, 10-14 Tumbulgum Road, Murwillumbah.
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