A total of 693 residents from Strathfieldsaye and Junortoun have received letters inviting them to two consultation sessions in Strathfieldsaye on Monday and Wednesday.

The joint North Central Catchment Management Authority and City of Greater Bendigo study aims to inform residents about the extent to which potential flooding events could impact urban Bendigo.

Attendees who RSVP to the sessions will have the chance to have a one-on-one, 15-minute appointment with the study’s modelling experts and council officers. 

North Central CMA chief executive Damian Wells said the six-month, six-stage consultation process had been comprehensive.

“It’s probably the biggest undertaking in terms of community engagement for a flood study in Victoria,” he said.

Mr Wells said of the 9000 letters sent out to Bendigo residents across the consultation period, about 600 people had taken up the offer of a one-on-one meeting about potential flood risk.

“In addition, we had at least that number again in phone conversations,” he said.

The study’s approach had been confirmed by the number of people who had agreed with the modelling, Mr Wells said.

“People are saying the flood risk the modelling shows is accurate, that’s the overwhelming response,” he said.

The next step was final mapping, which would feed into future planning.

“Once final mapping is signed off, it will be handed over to City of Greater Bendigo to consider the most appropriate way to build findings out of the study to incorporate into a planning scheme," Mr Wells said.

“It will also help feed into emergency management, where in an emergency SES already know the hot spots for flooding and can allocate finite resources accordingly."