Director of engineering Ian Dinham said after extensive public exhibition the management plan was presented to councillors on Thursday to be adopted.

The levy feasibility study will determine what is possible for the shire, what land may be appropriate for the levy’s location and other key details.

“A concept analysis will be conducted to see if a levy is feasible. If it turns out not to be feasible there are other strategies we can look at including raising the evacuation route over the main bridge and continuing the house raising program,” he said.

Each step of the floodplain risk management plan will be publicly exhibited to ensure adequate community consultation moving forward.

Mr Dinham said once the study was complete, a brief will be put together to seek government funding.

“All work with the floodplain management is subsidised by the state and federal government on a two to one basis. In this case it has been a six to one; we’ve been able to get a lot of support from the government.”

Mr Dinham highlighted Moree Plains Shire Council’s state of the art flood model which can assess all kinds of flood scenarios.

“It’s a major step forward in analysing the flood plain in the Moree shire.

The model we have now is capable of assessing various strategies including a flood levy, raising evacuation routes and general land use planning issues.”

“As a council we have a duty of care to our community and the 2012 flood was a demonstration of how flooding can be dangerous.

“We can now better assess flood behaviours and better protect our community.”