The decision of Planning Minister Rob Stokes to reject the Maitland councillors' proposal to allow the creation of low-level habitable space in central Maitland should be welcomed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Since the 1950s, much has been done to help NSW communities manage floods.
Levees have been built or improved, a flood agency (the State Emergency Service) was founded to manage rescue and other responses, and flood warning services were developed.
Critically, planning regulations prohibited new dwellings with habitable space on the low parts of floodplains. Nowadays you can even get flood insurance ─ though not cheaply.
Maitland in particular has benefitted greatly. The costs of floods ─ death, injury, property loss, infrastructure damage and inconvenience ─ have been contained.
We need, now, not to make the mistake of restoring community vulnerability to floods. Had the Minister accepted the suggestion that habitable space be allowed below the level that would be reached by the 1 per cent (so-called 'one-in-100-years') flood, that would have happened. More and more dwelling space would be at risk of inundation. A big price would be paid to achieve a larger population and give the CBD a bigger market.
The suggestion was based on the idea that people would move their belongings to higher levels within their dwellings as floods approached. Sadly, many wouldn't. There is much evidence that people in levee-protected towns react poorly to warnings. Having experienced little or no flooding, they become complacent. They react too late or not at all.
Maitland's ring levee is designed to let water into South Maitland and the low-lying parts of central Maitland in floods considerably smaller than the flood of 1955. The built-up area will see flooding again, though this is not well appreciated. We should not relax our defences.
Council has done much to restore the CBD to health, and additional shop-top dwellings would further bolster it. But more housing near ground level in areas certain to be flooded will guarantee that the next big flood brings more damage and pain. We should not boost the CBD's market by risking the lives and property of larger numbers of residents.
The SES and the Office of Environment and Heritage) gave the Minister the right advice. More low-level housing would increase public safety risks and material costs.
