Also see: Project Assessment Sheets.

The primary objective of the program is the development and implementation of area specific floodplain management plans for the State’s floodplains. These aim to address:

• existing risk - which is usually structural protection options such as levees to reduce flood risk to existing development.
• future risk - which is the determination of strategies for future or upgraded development on floodplains and usually involves modification to Council land use control policies (LEP’s etc).
• continuing risk - this covers strategies to manage flooding greater (rarer) to levels used for protection and planning purposes (recent examples are Coffs Harbour and Nyngan) and involves flood warning, emergency response and recovery strategies etc.

Strategies are developed using complex mathematical models of floodplains which enable flood behaviour for a variety of floods to be investigated and all impacts (both negative and positive) of flood protection or floodplain modification measures to be assessed.

Funding under the program is available for elements 1 and 3 above. No public funding is available for flood protection or flood proofing of new development.

Projects are usually the studies involved for floodplain management plan development or protection strategies identified in plans. The protection element usually involves major capital works projects and is subject to substantial evaluation through the development consent process (public consultation, EIS etc).

Given the nature and scale or projects under this program, the likely time frame for funding of proposals must be known to allow pre-implementation phases to be completed (EIS etc). As such, annual prioritisation of projects is sub-optimal.

Prioritisation is carried out by the "Floodplain Management Authorities of NSW" (FMA). FMA comprises Councils and Trusts with major flood problems and has around 70 members. FMA developed, in conjunction with DLWC and DPIE, a nine point assessment criteria and has developed a forward priority listing of projects. It evaluates new or revised projects annually in May and adjusts its priority list in the light of the new assessment. Each member has one vote.

The criteria used in assessment are:-

• Economic Issues (Benefit/cost Ratio, Annual Average Flood Damage, Damage in Design Flood);
• Flood Hazard (Degree of Hazard, Properties affected by Design Flood);
• Community Involvement
• Strategic Planning
• Local Contribution (to cost of projects); and
• TCM Compatibility.

At the same time, the priorities for Floodplain Management Studies were determined using similar criteria, with the exception of Economic Issues, which can only be identified through studies. Rankings were then adjusted to ensure that studies were equitably spread throughout the State.

The attached sheet shows the scoring criteria adopted by FMA

Development of the current forward list was carried out at the FMA annual conference in Grafton in May 1996. FMA will review the listing to incorporate any new projects at its 1997 conference in Maitland, also in May.