WHILE most landholders across the Bathurst region are praying for drought-breaking rains, residents of Perthville and Georges Plains live in fear that even light falls might send floodwaters tumbling through their homes.
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Members of the Queen Charlotte Landcare Group say they have been "fobbed off" by Bathurst Regional Council when they raise concerns about the weeds and willows that have clogged Queen Charlotte's Vale Creek at Perthville, and say it's been the same story for the past 30 years.
But mayor Graeme Hanger has told the group that clearing the creek is not a council responsibility and that while council has no issue with clearing work being done, it cannot give consent for the job.
READ MORE: Resident says levee will spread pain to west
Landcare Group chairman Ken Hamer's most recent letter to council again outlined residents' flooding concerns but the only response was an invitation to meet councillors and council staff at a Perthville village meeting in May.
"The same meeting we attended last year for no result," Mr Hamer told the Western Advocate.
"The creek is completely blocked with blackberry, willows and phragmites [a common reed] to the point where we don't need flooding rains to have a problem - we just need a shower of rain and the water can't find it's way down the normal course of the creek back to the river.
"At least one of the private owners said he's scared every time it rains that he's going to get flooded."
Mr Hamer said his group was also worried about the impact of the levee work currently being carried out by council that is designed to be the last piece in almost 30-year project to flood-proof Bathurst.
He says residents and businesses on the western side of the creek were not taken into consideration when the levee system was designed on the eastern side.
"The western side of the creek contains all the businesses in Perthville - the pub, service station, general store, post office and rural supplies store," Mr Hamer said.
"This will lead to a very dangerous situation if and when the bridge or one of the culverts become blocked in a major flood.
"Either the western side of the village will be destroyed or the levee will be breached, leading to a complete devastation of the eastern side."
Cr Hanger rejected that claim, saying there was extensive community consultation before council adopted its extensive flood management plan in 1995.
"Perthville was the last of the floodplain management works to be completed, ranked in terms of flood severity, with funding now being made available through the State Government's Floodplain Management Program, on a 2:1 basis with council," he said.
"The planned work that has been identified in the Perthville Floodplain Management Plan did not require creek clearing at the location causing concern to the Group, with 24 homes on the eastern side of Perthville to be protected from a one per cent Average Exceedance Probability Flood."
Mr Hamer said the creek needs to be urgently cleared of debris but, first, his group wants council representatives to simply meet them.
"Just come out here and have a look at the problem," he said.