It seems that the state government and Wollongong council have made up their minds to press ahead with the West Dapto land release - despite it being clearly situated on a floodplain !
The arguments against this have been known for years. Apart from the certainty that there will be flooding from time to time there has been no clear plan to provide access. The Fowlers road bridge appears dead and buried because of cost - and the new residents will have to face the chaos of entering and leaving by Bong Bong road.
The flood thinking seems to be on the basis that a host of Australian country towns are near a river and face flooding. When that happens the government declares a state of emergency and throws money to relief agencies.
West Dapto will be just another such town. Residents will just have to grin and put up with the inconvenience - and hope that their insurance policies cover floods.
It seems strange that we have a whole continent at our disposal and a population of just twenty-two million people - and we can't seem to find a bit of flood free ground to extend the city of Wollongong.
Maybe we just aren't trying hard enough !
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