Tamworth's new Flood Plain Risk Management Plan to go before council

Consultation began back in 2020, and a draft plan was placed on public exhibition for 42 days in April and May 2023.

A community drop-in session, which was attended by residents from about a dozen properties, was held at the Tamworth Community centre on July 23. And following on from that written submissions were invited.

A report to be presented to councillors on Tuesday night says about 61 per cent of responses came from concerned residents and 20 per cent were from the owners of commercial premises.

The report also identifies that a significant number of respondents had lived at their address for more than 20 years.

The report further analyses things like the level of assistance households would need to evacuate in a flood event.

Respondents to the community consultation survey were asked to rank their interest in generalised flood mitigation strategies.

The most popular of which were to apply development controls to new developments in flood affected areas, and to upgrade major drainage pipes or channels within residential and commercial areas.

The least popular mitigation strategies were "the voluntary purchase of existing residential property in high hazard flood areas", and subsidies for the voluntary raising of existing residential buildings.

Respondents were especially concerned with the impact of new developments on flood behaviour, "adequate street drainage and the clearing of debris from waterways and hydraulic structures".

The report also addressed Tamworth's ever-changing population base.

"Of the population of overseas migrants in Tamworth in 2021, 18.3 per cent rated their proficiency in speaking English as 'not well or not at all', increased from 3 per cent in 2006," the reports says.

Couple that with an increasing number of migrants arriving in the city, and the report says "it appears to be increasingly likely that translation services will be required to disseminate flood preparation material and flood warnings in the lead up to a flood event".

Internet access is another issue, whereby the proportion of the population within Tamworth with internet access within their homes is 72.6 per cent [up from 50.1 per cent in 2006].

So "it is still advisable that any flood preparation initiatives and flood warnings provide information across a range of different media forms," according to the report.

The report identified critical community facilities and infrastructure, like aged care homes, schools, the police station, the prison, and electricity substations, which would impact how the community planned and reacted to a flood event.

Among the potential flood modification measures listed in the report, is a levee to protect properties in Westdale from inundation from Timbumburi Creek, additional pressure tunnels, that drain water from inside the levee into the Peel River, and computerised flood gates, to replace the current manual gates, which "would allow the gates to be opened for longer before the river rises and allow more local overland flood water to discharge into the river".

Detention basins upstream, the diversion of Barnes Gully, updated development controls, voluntary property purchase, voluntary property raising, early warning systems, and flood education programs were also explored.

The report found a number of the options would have a "high likelihood of impacting the environment".

Improved access to Calala was also raised as an issue in the report, which says there were two access routes investigated; Calala Lane where Goonoo Goonoo Creek crosses to the west of Inala Crescent and Calala Lane where Calala Creek crosses to the east of Burgess Lane, as well as O'Briens Lane at the Peel River crossing.

"At all of these locations an existing bridge would need to be raised to prevent inundation of the road and allow vehicle access to Calala," the report concludes.

The Floodplain Risk Management Plan also identifies a new Flood Plain Area to be adopted, a matter which caused serious angst in parts of the community.

The area has since been refined and the number of properties effected has reduced in the final report.

A program of community education will be recommended to ensure the flood risk is better understood by the community and also by individual property owners.

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The next Ordinary Meeting of Tamworth Regional Council will be held on Tuesday, September 26, commencing at 6:30pm in the The Lands Building Nemingha Room, 25-27 Fitzroy Street, Tamworth.

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