Conversations with the community

During the public exhibition period, 25 November 2019 to 20 January 2020, Council’s engagement team shared the proposed changes with the community and key stakeholders. Emails with this information were sent to community, Register of Interest (flood) and industry stakeholders. The information was also available at Council’s Customer Service Centre. Copies of the draft chapters and change logs, a Frequently Asked Questions sheet and Feedback Form were made available at Wollongong Library. They were also included on the project webpage. A notice of the exhibition was published in the Advertiser on 27 November and 18 December 2019. The community was invited to provide feedback via Council’s website and Customer Service Centre. Key industry stakeholders were invited to participate in a forum at Council’s Administration building on 5 December 2019, to learn about the staged process for the review and proposed updates. Council sought to find out whether the proposed changes were supported, or if there were others changes that should be considered. Council’s floodplain engineers gave a presentation, with a question and answer session following.

The forum was attended by 35 industry stakeholders and there were 10 submissions, including group submissions from Neighbourhood Forum 5 and NSW Department Planning, Industry & Environment’s Environment, Energy and Science (EES) Water Flood Coast team.

Clarifications to some definitions and additions to objectives were requested for both chapters. There were suggested corrections to spelling, grammar, punctuation, inconsistencies and formatting. Support was expressed for particular clauses or sections of the chapters. It was queried how some of the guidelines might be applied to specific locations. Suggestions for managing flood risk were provided. It was requested that DCP Chapters E15 and 23 be updated concurrently. Suggested changes to chapter E13 related to flood studies, conveyance & floodways, modelling of buildings, overland flow, debris control structures, modifications to watercourses, flood impacts, filling of the floodplain, cumulative implications, risk precincts and design of new structures. Recommendations were made to address the effect of climate change on flood risk and update exceptional circumstances for controls above the flood planning level in the Wollongong Local Environment Plan. It was asked that Council engage a consultant to review and report on the proposed changes to the chapters, and for the report be placed on public exhibition.

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