Hepburn Park pod village plan dashed as Lismore council votes it down

Scaremongering emails which likened flood victims to ‘dysfunctional alcoholics’ have been called out at Lismore City Council, which nonetheless has decided to kill plans for a pod village at Hepburn Park. See why.

This photo taken on May 15, 2022, shows houses with political graffiti after the floods devastated Lismore. Picture: Patrick Hamilton / AFP

A motion to overturn a decision to block temporary housing at Hepburn Park was shot down at Tuesday’s Lismore City Council meeting in the face of tearful pleas from flood victims.

If the motion was successful, up to 40 pods could have been built at Hepburn Park, providing temporary housing for as many as 200 people.

Lismore resident Felicity Carroll, whose daughter lost her home in the floods, choked back tears as she recalled the harrowing events of February 28.

“I walk around my empty neighbourhood with the shells of houses … and in my mind I still hear the heart-stopping, chilling sound of all those around me trapped on their roofs crying out for help – crying for their lives, their babies and their loved ones,” she said.

Marie Hainaut and daughter Helene at their Phyllis St home in South Lismore in the aftermath of the devastating floods. Picture: Jason O'Brien

“Where are all those people from those empty houses now? I don’t know, do you know?”

Ms Carroll said the Lismore residents who lost their homes needed somewhere safe where they could recover from the “absolute horror” of what occurred on the night of February 28.

“Help us, teachers, nurses, psychologists and allied health workers, shop workers, disability support workers, (young people), our most vulnerable elderly … this flood did not discriminate,” she said.

The pod village would have taken up only 20 per cent of the park, while still allowing for sport and dog walking to continue – a major concern for people in opposition to the plan.

Mitch Moore and his wife Heather Lickiss outside their home on Lake St in North Lismore that was washed 50 metres into their neighbour’s backyard by the flooding Wilsons River. The couple escaped into their roof before cutting a hole in the corrugated roof to be rescued by boat. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“No one denies the importance of sports and recreation, but even with the addition of 50 pod houses in Hepburn Park these activities can continue on (80 per cent) of Hepburn Park,” Ms Carroll said.

“As one survivor said: ‘I wasn’t exactly weeping over a sports field while I was trapped on my roof for nine hours, (but) we will be now if the sports field isn’t available to those in the community with the greatest need’.”

There are 427 Lismore residents stuck in emergency accommodation who don’t know where they will be come January as insurance leased temporary accommodations run out.

There are still 900 people left homeless across the Northern Rivers region post-flood who are still waiting for stable accommodation.

Emma Hopkins (right) who lives at 27 Ostrom St, South Lismore. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Le Luong, a Lismore resident who lost everything during the floods, hasn’t cried for the past eight months.

But as he told councillors he was one of the “lucky ones” able to get help from friends and family, the bottled up emotion poured out.

He begged councillors through tears to help the people who weren’t as “lucky” as he was.

“You are going to make the decision for the help that we are crying for,” Mr Luong said.

Marcus Bebb was in South Lismore when the flood hit when he got “completely stuffed”.

Jaimes Saul (left) and Douglas Hume who live at 32 Ostrom St, South Lismore. Picture: Jonathan Ng

He has been living in a caravan that the insurance company has leased him for 12 months - but after that he has nowhere to go.

“I need to house my family,” he said. “We cannot afford to live in Lismore.”

“I’m going to lose my job, I’m going to have to pull my kids out of Year 11 and 12.

“I shouldn’t be before Lismore City councillors explaining how much we need these pods.

“Every time available lands come to this (council chamber) it gets knocked back.

“(This land has) been sitting on a golden platter before you, all you need is to give it a tick.”

Sarah Behrens with her dog Chuey and friend Stu French who helped clean out her house at 35 Ostrom St, South Lismore. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Cr Jeri Hall said there was a “need for emergency housing”, but she spoke against the pod village.

She said the pod village on Crawford Lane at Southern Cross University had ruined what used to be a “premier soccer club”, that had to be relocated to Lennox Heads and parents can’t get their kids there.

She also said Resilience NSW originally said that Hepburn Park was “not viable”.

“It’s taking too long, it won’t be ready until halfway through next year, and Resilience NSW has the option to expand existing pod villages and options to include more caravans,” Ms Hall said.

Help written on a growing pile of destroyed household items outside a home on Elliott Rd in South Lismore. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“We (council) get blamed for the reason there is no emergency accommodation. No. We have said no every time and we just ask for another solution.

“We need to make Resilience NSW do better and we need to get our community housed.”

Cr Andrew Gordon – a real estate agent – opposed the pod village, saying there were currently 79 rental properties available, and the government should subsidise people into those “safe and secure” properties.

“I don’t know much but I know my job,” he said. “We have a rental market, and it’s very fragile at the moment.”

Cr Big Rob said he strongly opposed the pod village at Hepburn Park and called for the state government to find more suitable land.

This photo taken on May 15, 2022, shows houses with political graffiti after the floods devastated Lismore. Picture: Patrick Hamilton / AFP

Cr Darlene Cook said the new motion offered a solution to “assist our community” without taking the entire park away.

“There are hundreds of people including families and children that are living in situations that are unstable,” Ms Cook said.

“In tents, vans, cars, couch surfing, in a single room of a flood damaged house.

“We’ve heard first hand from (flood victims) how much they need to get these temporary pods up and running because they need accommodation now.

“Because their insurance leases are running out just up to Christmas. Merry Christmas to them, they could be homeless again in January unless we can move and get some temporary pods up and running.”

Ms Cook said she was appalled by the number of people who believe their sport was more important than the “welfare of so many of our community”.

“People campaigning saying they don’t want ‘those people’ living in their neighbourhoods, who said their children would not be safe if ‘those people’ were living in a pod in the park,” she said.

Ms Cook said all councillors had received numerous emails warning that the flood victims who would be put in the pods at Hepburn Park would be “dysfunctional alcoholics”.

“That’s not what our flood victims are, our flood survivors are our friends, they’re our neighbours, they’re our community … they deserve our respect,” she said.

Cr Elly Bird told councillors at the November 8 meeting the decision they made would send a “clear message” to devastated flood victims: “Whether or not you care”.

“Sit with that, and if you vote against this, I urge you to consider what it would be like to live in a house with no walls – no toilet,” Ms Bird said.

“You are safe and you have the decision and the ability to offer people safety, to offer them a lifeline, to show them that you care.”

Councillors Elly Bird, Vanessa Ekin, Darlene Cook, Adam Guise and Steve Krieg voted in favour of the rescission motion that would have seen the Hepburn Park pod village tabled.

Councillors Andrew Gordon, Peter Colby, Jeri Hall, Electra Jensen, Andrew Bing and Big Rob voted against.

Because the recession motion failed, the issue of Hepburn Park is unlikely to come before council again.