The primary objective of the New South Wales Flood Prone Land Policy, as outlined below, recognises the following two important factors:
o flood prone land is a valuable resource that should not be sterilised by unnecessarily precluding its development; and
o if all development applications and proposals for rezoning of flood prone land are assessed according to rigid and prescriptive criteria, some appropriate proposals may be unreasonably disallowed or restricted, and equally, quite inappropriate proposals may be approved
1.1.1.
The primary objective of the policy is to reduce the impact of flooding and flood liability on individual owners and occupiers of flood prone property, and to reduce private and public losses resulting from flood, utilising ecologically positive methods where ever possible. That is:
o a merit approach shall be adopted for all development decisions in the floodplain to take into account social, economic and ecological factors, as well as flooding consideration.
o …
27 In order to establish an appropriate balance, the Manual identifies strategic guidelines with the proviso that it is not supposed to be used to assess individual development proposals. Instead it is "to assist councils in the preparation of flood plain risk management plans". In particular, the Manual states:
A fundamental principle of flood plain risk management is to assess development applications within the strategic framework of floodplain risk management plan and not in isolation or individually. The relevant sections of the management plan are to be included in councils LEPs, and flood related DCPs and policy
28 Unfortunately there is no current floodplain risk management plan (FRMP) to apply. However, Mr Bewsher identified the following evaluation criteria/planning principles which he considers appropriate, in the absence of a FRMP, for the assessment of this development application:
i. A development should be consistent with the relevant Floodplain Management Plan prepared by the Council, if such Plan exists.
ii. Graduated planning controls are necessary which recognise the flood sensitivity of certain land uses and the variability of flood hazards across a floodplain.
iii. The development must not result in an unacceptable risk to personal safety, either on the site or elsewhere.
iv. The development must not result in an unacceptable risk to property, either on the site or elsewhere.
v. Where the personal safety risks or property risks associated with the development are small, the cumulative impact of multiple developments in the floodplain need to be considered to identify if the resultant impacts are acceptable.
vi. The suitability of the development should be evaluated over a range of flood sizes that have different probabilities of occurrence.
vii. The types of planning controls to be applied to floodplain developments will usually comprise:
a) Floor levels
b) Building components (i.e. to ensure materials are flood compatible)
c) Structural soundness (i.e. ability to withstand flood waters)
d) Flood effects on others (i.e. the development should not increase flood effects elsewhere having regard to flood levels, velocities, loss of flood storage and changes in flood conveyance)
e) Evacuation and access
f) Management and design (e.g. storage of hazardous goods in a floodplain, or ensuring development as a consequence of the subdivision application can be carried out responsibly having regard to the flood risks).
29 Having considered the evidence and submissions regarding the utility of this criteria, I deal with this subsequently.