The only option for a temporary village for flood impacted people in the Lismore area has been blocked by councillors, according to Lismore's General Manager.
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Councillors were asked on Tuesday night to sign off on an agreement with Resilience NSW that would have allowed a "couple of hundred" temporary houses for flood impacted people placed at Hepburn Park in Goonellabah.
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John Walker said he was disappointed in the decision, denying claims by councillor Big Rob there were "plenty of other sites" available.
"No one wants to lose a prime recreational site, that's why it has taken so long to get to this point. But the housing taskforce and the planning department and now the reconstruction commission have all looked with us at every bit of available space in Lismore to build a village on, and there is none," Mr Walker said.
He said private owners of vacant land had not welcomed the idea of having the village on their land, limiting options.
"If Hepburn Park was Crown land, it would have been released three months ago, because the State can do that. But, because it's freehold owned by the City, there was reluctance.
"Now the quid pro quo was they would've fixed up all our sporting arenas and sporting grounds in the floodplain, as part of the trade-off."
He said the decision not to sign an agreement with Resilience NSW meant it was likely there will be no major temporary housing in Lismore, as there was no other large parcels of flood free land available.
Why meeting ended abruptly
Mr Walker also commented on the abrupt end to the council meeting on Tuesday night.
The meeting went for almost five hours, but only a quarter of the items up for discussion were heard.
Most council meetings this year have pushed past midnight, but last night, mayor Steve Krieg called an end to proceedings when the clock passed 10.30pm.
He said, as the Chair of the meeting, he was able to end it at that time under the Local Government Act.
Despite protests from councillors and the public galley, the mayor declared the meeting over, refusing to enter into debate on the matter.
When asked if the decision to end the meeting abruptly was a statement, Mr Walker said "it was".
"We completed six items and 18 were left uncompleted after five hours. If we hadn't have been able to do that, it would have been another 2 o'clock meeting, and that's just not on. We don't need to," he said.
He said councillors' debate over procedure was interfering with getting things done.
"Why is it raised? Just get on with it," Mr Walker said.
The next scheduled general meeting is on August 9.
