Flood land swap not offered to Lismore

FLOOD-affected businesses in the Tweed will be offered new sites; a ground-breaking $3 million land swap arrangement funded by the NSW Government.

Open for business and sales notices are a welcome sign for many in Lismore's CBD after the floods. Picture: Alison Paterson

LISMORE Council has announced it will not be following the lead of its Tweed Shire colleagues and offer a million dollar flood-free land swap for flood affected businesses.

On Monday Murwillumbah Council said, thanks to a ground-breaking $3 million land swap arrangement funded by the NSW Government, some business will soon be moving to higher ground.

Priority was given to businesses in high velocity flood areas or of high value (more than 50 employees who lost more than $1 million in the March 2017 flood).

The seven businesses interested in relocating employ around 300 people and include Shoobridge Transport, Williams Timber & Trusses, Hayes Steel and O'Connors Carrying Service.

The businesses have a decade to make the move.

But while Member for Lismore, Thomas George MP, who broke the news on behalf of the Deputy Premier, Minister for Regional NSW and Minister for Small Business, John Barilaro MP, it doesn't look like he'll be saying anything about a similar deal for Lismore.

Mr George said in his opinion LCC have not yet finalised what they want to do.

"But the concerned citizens group have met with Kevin Hogan and I to discuss the relocation of flood water via channel to take it around the back of the airport,” he said.

"Doing this we could redirect the bulk of the city water back into the river.”

Mr George said like Murwillumbah, Lismore does not have a lot of flood-free land.

"But this project might assist in flood proofing the city,” he said.

Instead, LCC said it is working on its Lismore Flood Ready Project in order to develop a comprehensive plan of action for the city should another major flood, or other natural disaster, occur.

Lismore Flood Ready Project Manager Michael Hemingway said the project is a state-wide pilot partly funded by the Office of Emergency Management to document some of the methods that helped Lismore recover from the March 2017 flood.

He said the Office of Emergency Management plans to use the completed model as an example that other communities can adapt and use during natural disasters.

"At present, no community in NSW has an official recovery plan,” he said.

"We have services that deal with the immediate emergency and warning systems, but once the disaster is over there is no framework to help communities get back on their feet. This tends to happen in an ad hoc manner unique to each community.”

Lismore Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president Andrew Gordon said a land swap is a "rainbows and unicorns” suggestion.

"Idealistically speaking it is a great idea, but practically speaking - mission impossible.” he said.

Mayor Isaac Smith said he believed LCC should maintain their focus on flood mitigation rather than relocation.

"Given the size of the our CBD and industrial estate, it is not feasible to mirror the south Murwillumbah example with a much larger city like Lismore,” he said.

Earlier Mr George praised Tweed Shire Council for its initiative, saying the proposal was on the government's desk just 10 days after the flood.

Under the deal, council will prepare the 16.11 hectare plot for development and apply for further State Government grants for the cost of infrastructure, such as roads, water and sewer.

Businesses would have up to 10 years to relocate and their former flood-prone land would be back zoned, most likely for community or agricultural uses, in order to remove impediments from the flood plain.