Lismore City Council has released its draft Floodplain Risk Management Plan for assessment and feedback in the community. The feedback period is to end on the 23rd June, so we asked about the importance of the plan and what this means to the community.

A spokesperson for the Lismore City Council said, “The Floodplain Risk Management Plan identifies a range of measures that Council can undertake to improve community safety from flood events. This ranges from changes in planning controls, property modifications such as raising and removing high-risk properties, to a range of emergency response and public education measures as well as physical mitigation measures such as levies, bypass channels and nature-based solutions."

As the 2022 floods showed, everyone is affected. Lismore City Council confirmed that “the plan is relevant to everybody.”

Due to the evidence of recent flood events and what that means for our future, there are many changes to the plan. The LCC, reports that, “The plan has undertaken a multi-criteria assessment of 22 potential flood response options and ranked them for implementation or further investigation.

“Council is seeking community feedback on the options presented or whether additional measures should be included.”

Feedback to this plan is critical for the community, as there are other factors that will influence the future of Lismore’s planning, “It should be noted that the CSIRO’s work through the Northern Rivers Resilience Initiative will provide a new model of the entire Richmond River catchment and to test possible interventions to reduce the risk of flooding across the region. 

“This work is anticipated to be completed in 2026, and Lismore Council may have to update its Floodplain Risk Management Plan after that time."

The draft plan on exhibition is intended to replace the current Floodplain Risk Management Plan that has been in effect since 2014.

 “The main change is that it is based upon updated modelling, providing a more accurate reflection of flood risk across the Lismore Urban area. It also updates the potential measures Council and other agencies can undertake to improve safety.”

Submissions are open until June 23. Council may extend this period if there is demand from the community to do so.

 At that point, the “Submissions will then be considered by Council’s Flood Risk Management Committee that is made up of councillors, technical and community representatives.

“Once a final version is complete, it will be presented to Lismore Council for adoption and implemented by Council in partnership with the relevant agencies.”

You can access the information about the plan from this webpage.