Council concerned over lack of engagement on proposed floodplain
management
For immediate release Thursday 3 September, 2015
The strategy, prepared by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning under the guidance of an inter-departmental stakeholder reference group, proposes to introduce new measures for assessing flood risk and sharing information; avoiding or minimising future risk; reducing existing risk; and managing residual risk.
Whilst Councillors agreed with elements of the proposed strategy, they also expressed the view that the draft had been prepared with insufficient targeted consultation with local governments and communities affected by the changes.
In their submission, Council said that the scope of the proposed changes were too extensive to consider in one high level document.
It was also suggested that the draft strategy was too focused on minimising and mitigating the Victorian Government’s exposure to flood-related risks, with much of this risk being transferred to Local Government. In Council’s view, Local Government has not been adequately consulted during the drafting of strategy and has not been given enough time to thoroughly consider the draft strategy.
Mayor Cr Peter Neal explained that though there were elements of the strategy that Council agreed with and supported, there were also a number of concerning elements to the 90-page document.
“Our concerns are really around the fact that, in our view, the financial implications of the proposed changes have not been properly considered, investigated and discussed with individual local governments most impacted by them,” Cr Neal said.
“Furthermore, the draft strategy does not give enough flexibility for local government and others to respond to local circumstances and conditions. This is a state-wide, ‘one size fits all’ policy that will disadvantage some areas and gives little regard for existing local policies and response mechanisms.
“We also consider that the draft strategy appears to be expanding the scope of responsibility and accountability for Local Government into an area that will generally be beyond the skills and resources of regional municipalities, while failing to appropriately capture the value that Local Government can contribute to floodplain planning and management for local communities,” Cr Neal concluded.
Council has called for more discussion and consultation with Local Government and communities before the Victorian Government considers adopting the strategy.
At the meeting, Council also resolved to write to the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water, Hon. Lisa Neville MP expressing Council’s disappointment at the lack of detailed engagement undertaken on the Revised Draft Victorian Floodplain Management Strategy with the Local Government sector to date.
The letter will also request further detailed engagement with Local Government on this important document before it is formally considered by the State.
The recommendation was moved by Cr Jane Rowe and seconded by Cr John Wilkin, carried unanimously.
