Bowraville Ex-Services Club has submitted plans for a $750,000 Disaster Support Hub and Communications Centre with Nambucca Valley Council to help for those affected by bushfires or floods.
Planning documents before Nambucca Valley Council, on the NSW North Coast, show the hub offering hot meals, shelter from weather, showers, toilets and a baby change area for evacuated and stranded people.
The Coffs Coast club’s plan features a new commercial kitchen, covered deck dining spaces, and toilet and shower amenities with disabled access.
Regional clubs are renowned as gathering points during times of natural disaster and often support communities in times of trouble.
The Bowraville & District Ex-Services plans to construct a Disaster Support Hub is backed by funding from the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants to construct a Disaster Support Hub and Communications Centre.
The hub would operate 24 hours a day in times of emergency but would operate as a licensed club, from 10am-10pm, at other times.
The 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires skirted Bowraville but tore through the rural community of South Arm and floods have cut off the town from Macksville and Nambucca Heads in the past.
“Recent bushfires and floods revealed a lack of proper disaster facilities in the town,” the submission by consulting engineers Ron Hawkins & Associates states. “(The hub) will be a major advantage for residents, emergency services and volunteers alike in times of disaster.”