Only
road into Yamba in the Clarence Valley cut by flood waters at Shallow Channel, 3 March 2022
flooding. IMAGE: Clarence
Valley Council
Yamba
Road during February-March 2022 flooding. IMAGE:
The Daily Telegraph
Shores
Drive, Yamba, March 2022. IMAGE:
YambaCAN
Yamba
suffered unprecedented flooding earlier this year, particularly in
Golding, Cook and Endeavour streets (lower left-hand corner of pic).
Meanwhile, amid the arguments put by Yamba residents that this
flooding was caused by poor planning for development on the West
Yamba floodplain, the West Yamba Landowners Consortium’s WYURA
Flood Impact Assessment notes that “Golding Street … is already
shown to be largely filled … such, that the majority of the site is
above the 1 in 100 annual exceedance probability flood level. Photo:
Contributed [Clarence
Valley Independent,
24 October 2022]
Clarence
Valley Independent,
24 April 2024:
Greens
MLC Sue Higginson says Grevillea Waters Yamba residents are in the
“fight of their lives” against an “intolerable” development
proposal for 16 townhouses on adjacent flood prone land which was
claimed may put the lives of the 200 plus residents at risk.
Ms
Higginson, who is the chairperson of a current NSW parliamentary
current inquiry into the planning system and impacts of climate
change on the environment and communities visited the Hometown
Australia owned village on Sunday to hear the residents’ concerns
about the development proposal for 30 Golding Street, Yamba.
She
said she was extremely impressed by how organised the Grevillea
Waters community were and how they have “forensically analysed”
the development proposal to make comprehensive submissions to council
addressing their concerns.
“They
have applied their lived experience, that local knowledge to the DA
that is before them, and I believe their concerns are very clear,
very real, and very accurate…they’re in the fight of their
lives,” she said.
Touring
the site on the village bus gave Ms Higginson first-hand perspective
of the impact of the 2022 flood, viewing photos of the development
site 90 cm under water.
“You
can’t say that land that was impacted like that in 2022, with that
volume of water, is not going to impact this site, and the problem is
that the development application documents say there will be no
adverse flooding impacts,” she said.
“I
don’t think that conclusion can be accepted, and I don’t think
that it can be supported.”
Ms
Higginson, former senior lawyer at the Environmental Defenders
Office, said she advised residents to continue on the active and
proactive engagement they are having with the development proposal,
and they are appealing to every possible person who may be able to
influence the outcome of this development proposal.
“Really,
the best thing that can happen here is that the council refuses this
development,” she said.
“It
won’t be the best thing for the proponent, and I accept that, but
the reality is this is not the kind of development that should go on
that site…placing as many townhouses as possible on that site to
maximise the return is not in the best interests of this local
community.”
Ms
Higginson said the planning system was at a junction where we need to
respond to the real-life threats to the community and our
environment, now that our climate is changing.
“The
reality here is that we’re talking about 200 or more members of our
community that are among the most vulnerable, and we are considering
whether we should pose an intolerable risk on their lives, their
wellbeing, their homes, and the physical environment in which they
live and that’s a real concern,” she said.
Ms
Higginson said she will be immediately writing to NSW Planning
Minister Paul Scully, and Clarence Valley Council, and informing her
parliamentary inquiry committee of the plight of Grevillea Waters
residents.
Grevillea
Waters Residents Committee Focus Group GWRCFG spokesperson David
Robinson thanked Ms Higginson for her helpful and informative
discussion with the group.
He
said Ms Higginson explained the new planning methodologies being
developed to help Councils decide on whether or not to proceed with
marginal flood plain developments – particularly when there was a
high risk to life and property, but said councils were under pressure
to address the state housing shortage.
“She
was aware of a November 2023 Canberra Times article – in which
Planning Minister Paul Scully had claimed to be considering scaling
back high-risk flood plain developments in NSW (including in the
Clarence Valley) – especially where there would be a risk to life
in the case of a mass evacuation,” Mr Robinson said.
“Ms
Higginson believes that Grevillea Waters Village deserved special
consideration, given the age and medical condition of the many
residents in the Village.”
Clarence
Valley Independent,
24 April 2024:
It
was standing room only at Yamba Golf and Country Club on Sunday as
more than 250 Clarence Valley residents proactively engaged in a
flood awareness and resilience meeting, leaving with vital knowledge
to help them survive and conquer the next stormwater and Clarence
River flood event.
The
Yamba Community Action Network Yamba CAN Inc. and Valley Watch who
hosted the meeting invited politicians, council’s GM, councillors,
the SES, NSW Police, Fire and Rescue NSW, and NSW Ambulance to
attend.
Clarence
Valley Deputy Mayor, Jeff Smith, Cr Greg Clancy, and potential
council candidate, Cristie Yaeger attended.
Yamba
CAN Chair Col Shephard opened the meeting, defining awareness and
resilience before advising attendees to study two important clauses
in the Clarence Valley Council Local Environmental Plan 2011, 521
relating to flood planning, and 522 about Special Flood
Considerations.
Valley
Watch Treasurer Graeme Granleese then spoke about the State Disaster
Mitigation Plan, encouraging locals to have input to help create a
Disaster Adaptation Plan for the area.
Keynote
speaker, Greens MLC and chair of a current NSW parliamentary inquiry
into the planning system and impacts of climate change on the
environment and communities, Sue Higginson said the NSW planning
system which was developed in the 1970s is archaic and “broken”
and the inquiry aims to help reform the system.
She
said after the 2022 floods both the Prime Minister and Premier both
said we need to stop any further developments on floodplains.
“The
system facilitates these developments
… it’s a planning system of
the past,” she said.
“It
often goes against the wishes of local people, with local knowledge.”
Ms
Higginson commended Yamba CAN Inc. and Valley Watch for their
proactive actions and advocacy in educating and informing the
community about floods.
“You
are the key to your future in developing your preparedness for the
next flood event,” she said.
After
an informative and graphic slideshow of images and videos of the 2022
flood, Yamba CAN Inc. executive member and long-term Yamba resident,
Craigh McNeill, who has spent hundreds of hours researching councils
new flood model, presented valuable information on flood awareness,
how Yamba floods, Australian Height Datum AHD and how it is
calculated.
According
to council’s new flood model, Mr McNeill discovered in a 1 in
100-year flood most houses with a 2.5 metre floor level AHD between
the Angourie Road roundabout to Oyster Channel, Yamba, would flood.
Mr
McNeill said Lake Wooloweyah significantly impacts Yamba flood
behaviour, in the 2022 flood the lake continued to fill for 28 hours
after the flood peak at Yamba, and Oyster Channel holds back
floodwater, exacerbating and extending effects on Yamba.
SES
Community Capability Officer, Tracey Doherty clarified that Yamba
Bowling Club isn’t the designated flood refuge for Yamba, and flood
refuges are determined by the NSW Department of Communities and
Justice.
Mrs
Doherty encouraged everyone to develop an Emergency Plan, have an
Emergency Kit prepared, and to download and understand the Bureau of
Meteorology, Hazards Near Me and Emergency Plus smartphone apps so
they are prepared for the next event.
In
the event of a flood, Mrs Doherty encouraged everyone to watch the
Clarence Valley SES Facebook page for alerts, to listen to ABC radio
94.5 the official emergency broadcaster, and she advised people to
have a location to evacuate to rather than relying on a designated
flood refuge......
Ms
Higginson said the event was a “remarkable” meeting, she was
overwhelmed by how many people attended and the clear message that
locals delivered was “we have got to stop development on the Yamba
floodplain”.
“People
want to be prepared for floods and they don’t feel they have the
information they need to be prepared, so it was fantastic that the
SES were here to start that conversation,” she said.
“What
was clear, is that everyone in this room feels as though their
council are letting them down at the moment.”......
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