City nominates key flood, storm damage repair sites

HUNTLY and Epsom are among areas that will receive priority upgrade and improvement works after suffering flood and storm damage earlier this year and late last year.

The City of Greater Bendigo has also listed sites in Junortoun and Goornong as areas for specific attention.

The program of works includes installation of new box culverts in Willis Road, Huntly; drain reshaping/widening and driveway culvert upgrades in Pasley Street, Huntly; pit installation in Gungurru Road, Huntly; and new box culverts at Domain Village on the McIvor Highway at Junortoun.

Pipe realignment is scheduled for Strickland and Sullivan streets in Epsom, while drain reshaping and widening and vegetation management has been included for Railway Place/Midland Highway at Goornong, subject to V/Line authorisation.

City chief executive officer Andrew Cooney said the works would take up to six months to complete.

“The works are subject to contractor and material availability, but these are our priority areas to receive treatment as soon as possible,” he said.

“These areas have been chosen following an assessment of our customer request inquiries, feedback received through our recovery drop-in sessions held earlier this year, and impact assessment data undertaken immediately after the flood and storm events.”

Priority pit inspection and drain clearing will also take place over the next three months in Dead Horse Gully/Shakespeare Street to Patterson Street in Heathcote, Gungurru Road in Huntly, McIvor Forest Estate in Junortoun, Cameron Court/Aspiring Drive in Huntly, Peake Court/Strickland Street in Epsom, Heathcote Redesdale Road/Moylans Road in Redesdale, and the Shakespear Street floodway in Heathcote.

The City submitted four applications to the Federal Government’s Disaster Ready Fund earlier this year. Applications for waterway flood mitigation plans for Epsom, Huntly, Junortoun and Heathcote, as well as for a Goornong flood study, were successful.

Applications for a separate Huntly drainage analysis and flood mitigation plan, with a focus on Goldleaf Wetland, and a drainage and culvert improvement program did not receive funding.

But Mr Cooney said the City would still release its share of the funds for those projects and would continue to investigate other funding opportunities.

“The City will invest $2.25 million over the next three years, with a particular focus on improving drainage and culvert infrastructure in Huntly, Junortoun and Heathcote,” he said.

“Our focus will be on fixing infrastructure that otherwise sees streets or suburbs cut off for a period of time when we get flood events.”

Mr Cooney said the City would also expand the scope of the Huntly waterway flood mitigation plan to include Goldleaf Wetland and use this process to identify future investment opportunities for the site, which is used as a detention basin to store stormwater runoff.

“The City is in the final stages of redesigning the Racecourse Creek levy, which would help mitigate flooding along the Epsom/Ascot/Midland corridor, to the right of Bendigo Creek, and will seek state and federal funding to repair a critical 1.2-kilometre section,” he said.