Residents have been "adversely affected" by Wollongong City Council flood studies, Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery has admitted.
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But he said the council was bound by a flood-plain development manual from the NSW Environment and Heritage department.
"All along our area there are people who have been adversely affected by the recent flood management plans," Councillor Bradbery said.
"It's not the council's wish to cause ... grief but we are obliged to do these studies and apply these criteria set by the state government."
Cr Bradbery said the flood management plans were "slowly being done" for the entire Wollongong area as part of a long re-evaluation process after the 1998 floods.
He said that councils could not consider the potential increase in insurance premiums to residents when considering which homes were at risk of flooding.
"The basis of a flood study is the likelihood of inundation and flooding," he said.
Cr Bradbery said that council flood studies were only one of many tools insurers used to calculate premiums and that the recent rises experienced by residents in the region had a few causes.
"We've got to remember that the insurance industry is under a lot of pressure because of natural disasters around the world," he said.
"There are a lot of issues in the mix at the moment - the Queensland floods right down to the Victorian floods in recent times. "