Community Leaders Forum Meeting Summary - 26 October 2023
The RA hosts a regular Community Leaders Forum of local MPs and Mayors to help guide future decisions about recovery and reconstruction and ensure discussions are informed by community needs and driven by local community leaders.
Summaries of the meetings are being shared to provide the local community with information about the ongoing recovery program in the Northern Rivers. These summaries reflect the views of community leaders and are not to be considered as NSW Government policy.
At its meeting on Thursday 26 October, the Community Leaders Forum received a briefing on recovery plans. The plans cover high level guidance on all stages of recovery and provides specific guidance on the steps to recovery. The group asked for community leaders to be engaged thoroughly on the plan. They also sought to confirm that lessons observed and learned from previous disasters were also considered as part of the revised plan.
The matter of upgrading drainage was raised, and there was agreement from across the forum that a drainage infrastructure plan needs to be considered, and there will be a need to secure funding for these critical works.
The RA confirmed that the raising and retrofit program is underway and that the grant available for a raising is up to $100,000 and for a retrofit the grant available is up to $50,000.