The flooding events of the past week have sparked criticism of mass development there. Ian Wright of Western Sydney University says the recent floods would make people aware of the dangers of living in low-level areas and that there are lessons to be learned from the most recent floods.
"We can do this better. For 30 years we haven't had a flood like this and Hawkesbury- Nepean has wet cycles and dry cycles that can go 50 to 20 years. We've just come out of 30 years. Our leaders, our community don't have this sort of experience so we need to learn from this."]]
These recent issues have renewed the urban design debate. One company that builds homes says they can design and build structures that are flood-resistant.
Rob Roggema [[ ROG- emma]] is an expert on sustainable urbanism. He says no less than an overhaul is needed for 70,000 residents in the region.
"Make the roads in neighbourhoods smaller, and replace large parts of them by productive green landscape. The second point would be to take out all the water that falls on the hard surfaces on the roofs and lead that water into gardens and public green."
New South Wales Planning Minister Rob Stokes says re-zoning applications have been rejected due to flood concerns.
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