Sutherland Shire Council has been awarded $180,000 in funding to help manage flood risk and reduce the impact of floods on their community under the NSW Government’s Floodplain Management Program.

Sutherland Shire Council will use this funding for a Woronora River flood study.

Member for Heathcote, Maryanne Stuart said flood management requires significant focus for the area after years of mismanagement and neglect by the Local Government Area.

Minister for Climate Change and the Environment Penny Sharpe said, “the grants will help ensure communities right across New South Wales are more resilient and better protected from potential flooding”.

“The NSW Government will continue to partner with councils to increase our understanding of flood risk. This will allow us to more effectively implement actions to reduce flood impacts on local communities.”

The Floodplain Management Program has been running since the 1980s. Funding is usually provided at a 2:1 ratio, with $2 contributed from the NSW government for every $1 provided by the council.

The grants support the NSW Flood Prone Land Policy, which aims to reduce the impacts of flooding on communities. The policy can be found here: http://bit.ly/3Skjvn6

More information about the NSW Floodplain Management Program and Floodplain Management Grants can be found at https://bit.ly/3ufeILF

Quotes attributable to Maryanne Stuart MP, Member for Heathcote:

“Sutherland Shire Council has neglected its responsibilities on flood management for decades, especially in the Woronora River.”

“The Woronora River flood study is over 30 years old, having not been updated since 1991, so it does not take the latest hydrologic and hydraulic modelling techniques, Australian rainfall and runoff 2019 guidelines or sea level rise policy into account.”

“Less than two years ago, the Woronora community were subject to intolerable levels of flooding and received nothing but buck-passing and excuses from the previous Government and the Council.”

“This grant makes it very clear that the Council has no excuse to shirk its responsibilities to reduce risk to life and property in the catchment and determine revised flood behaviour, hazard and risk.”