Have your say on concept designs for City’s Flood Big Ideas project

Published on 24 November 2025

Overhead picture of Parramatta Quay

Locals are invited to have their say on a proposal to reduce flooding across Parramatta with three concept designs for large-scale flood infrastructure projects now on public exhibition. 

Proposals for Loyalty Road Flood Detention Basin in North Rocks, McCoy Park Flood Detention Basin in Toongabbie, and Charles Street Weir in the CBD, are now open for community feedback as part of the City’s Flood Big Ideas project.

City of Parramatta Lord Mayor Cr Martin Zaiter said Council was taking proactive steps to help reduce the risks of flash-flooding to residents and the community. 

“Council has undertaken extensive studies to scope this project, narrowing it down from 14 to three locations that will benefit from better water flow management,” Cr Zaiter said.

“We’ve leveraged our 2024 Parramatta River Flood Study to help us develop these three concept designs and create appropriate planning controls to help reduce the impact of flooding across our City.

“Upgraded or new flood infrastructure will be even more important as our City continues to grow.”

Proposed concept designs for the Flood Big Ideas project include:

  • Loyalty Road Flood Detention Basin, North Rocks: narrowing the existing low-flow tunnel for slower water movement to allow more water storage, resulting in a potential 19cm reduction in flood levels upstream of the Parramatta CBD
  • McCoy Park Flood Detention Basin, Toongabbie: raising the existing levee walls by 1m and building additional 2m retaining walls around McCoy Park to increase the amount of floodwater that can be temporarily stored. This results in a potential reduction of 7cm in flood levels in Toongabbie and 5cm less water in the Parramatta CBD
  • Charles Street Weir, Parramatta: building a new 4.8m wide weir with automatic flood gates that can be opened when a flood is coming and be kept closed at all other times. This results in up to 66cm reduction in flood levels in the CBD.

Once the community votes on the three concept designs, one will progress to detailed design. Council will continue to advocate for additional funding to build the chosen flood infrastructure project. 

The $500,000 project is jointly funded by City of Parramatta and the Australian Government through Round Two of its flagship Disaster Ready Fund.

Flood Big Ideas is on public exhibition until 30 January 2026. 

To have your say or for more information, visit Council’s Participate Parramatta website.

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