Building Back Better is the overall theme for our Flood Recovery and this week, Lismore City Council held two public meetings at the Lismore Heights Sports Club to gather community feedback on Lismore's Land Use Management Strategy. No doubt the first of many public meetings in the journey toward long term solutions.

A questionnaire was put on public display on council's website that asked for an emotional response to some statements like Depopulate North and South Lismore, Protect the CBD, create New Flood Free Industrial Land, create a New Commercial Centre, New Medium Density Housing, Affordable Housing Contribution Scheme and Fast Track Infrastructure to new flood-free land. People were asked to say whether were happy, neutral or unhappy with each statement.

While the sample was small at 91 people, the responses make for very interesting reading. Here are the top 4 that people would be happy to see:

• Affordable Housing Contribution Scheme 75%
• Depopulate North and South Lismore 68.7%
• New Flood Free Industrial Land 67.6%
• Fast Track Infrastructure to new flood-free land 60%

Lismore City Council General Manager John Walker moderated the meetings. Mr Walker told the Lismore App he thought the meetings were "positive".

"We tried to keep the debate to land use matters, which effectively was what do you do with North and South Lismore, the CBD, the golf course and zonings those sorts of things."

"I thought the meetings were very positive, I thought they were informative and people were very respectful. People had different views and clearly, there's a divergence of views and when we get on to flood mitigation that will really shine (through)."

"There seemed to be strong support for the area of voluntary house purchases and land swaps but again, a strong group of people actually want to stay where they are as well. So they're needing to know details. What can I do? What are the rules? When will money be available for the land swaps."

"It's pretty hard for us because we don't know the answers. We know these are state government-funded initiatives and we know they'll be recommended in some form by the inquiry and then by the Reconstruction Corporation, so I got left with a bit of frustration at not being able to help and not being able to answer. We got good input, though."

Mr Walker also expressed thoughts that council were not being bold enough in what they put out to the public.

"There are a lot of people who are calling for different sorts of design around the CBD and different sorts of thinking. I just felt people are ready for change and ready for bold change."

The next step in this process is for our elected Councillors to discuss, debate and vote on what LCC's position is for their own strategies as well as informing government agencies and the Flood Inquiry. This should occur at the next meeting of council which is Tuesday, June 14.

Mr Walker said, "The council would have to come out and say something like, we do support land swaps, we do support voluntary house buybacks, do they agree in principal to the depopulation of North and South Lismore and that's not certain."

Given one councillor lives on the floodplain at North Lismore and given the ideological differences between political parties within councillors, this will more than likely be a long, passionate debate.

"In the public meetings, there was strong support for those people that want to go and a lot of people do want to go, they need to know what's going to happen and how it's going to be funded. Those people that want to stay want to know what they have to do to their houses to allow them to stay and rebuild. It's all voluntary and it's an interesting dichotomy of policy."

When you add in the controversial and vitally important Flood Mitigation part of this journey, will the voluntary component become forced?

"No, I don't see a forced one but there has got to be some hard decisions taken and the plan might be to depopulate an area. It might not be forced in a year but it might be over a period of years. Somethings got to change, you can't achieve everything so there are going to be hard decisions and there are going to be compromises. I have no doubt there will be hard decisions that someone's got to have to make, it will be the Federal Government maybe or the NRRC (Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation). I don't think council will have the final say but we'll have an input and the residents will have an input."

"If you don't have a decision-making authority you don't get a decision. If you don't get a decision you get no action and I think no action is unacceptable."

No action leads to Lismore doing the same thing as it has done for the last 17-years with the same results, rescue, cleanup and rebuild. With the likelihood of more and larger floods on the way, can we afford not to be bold?