Lithgow City Councillor Stephen Lesslie has moved that the council ask Bathurst MP Paul Toole to reallocate $60,000 in recently announced grant funding for a flood risk management study to areas of immediate need in the shire.
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In announcing the funding, Mr Toole said the funds would allow Lithgow City Council to create a floodplain risk management study and plan around the Farmer's Creek and Marrangaroo Creek catchments.
"In a place like Australia, where we can suffer bush fire one day and floods the next, building community resilience for natural disasters is vital. Councils have an important role to play to help communities understand and manage this issue," he said.
However, Cr Lesslie argues the funds could be better spent addressing areas already identified as a flood risk, including major flooding problems, "these being a major flooding problem at the corners of Main, Laurence and Cupro Streets and George Coates Avenue, and also at Marrangaroo".
"As a sign of how seriously this problem is viewed, Lithgow Council is putting aside $350,000 per year from the Operations budget to deal with it when funds are sufficient,"
He has asked councillors to support his motion that they request Mr Toole's $60,000, along with extra funds from the Floodplain Grants Scheme sufficient to finish the job, be allocated to the "immediate rectification of the already identified problems".
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