Gunnedah Shire Council’s Blackjack Creek Flood Mitigation Project has wrapped up after seven months and has come in under budget by more than $200,000.

Daracon Group Gunnedah started the works in November 2017 after the council received a grant from the Office of Environment and Heritage.

The council’s development and planning manager, Carolyn Hunt, said the project was a recommendation of the Blackjack Creek Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan 2010 to ensure one-in-100 year flood events are contained and surrounding properties are protected.

“The Blackjack Creek channel reconstruction is the culmination of years of investigation, consultation, surveying, planning and design,” Mrs Hunt said.

“The project involved creating channel banks and deepening; widening and the realignment of 1.9 kilometres of Blackjack Creek, between McCalls Road and Oxley Highway, to increase capacity. It also included the installation of storm water pipes under Wandobah Road, and associated road works, as well as the removal and replanting of trees in the area.”

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Gunnedah shire deputy mayor Gae Swain thanked the Flood Mitigation Working Group for its commitment to the project.

“There has been a huge amount of work go into this project over a number of years and it is wonderful to see the finished product come in under budget and I commend everyone, both current and past, involved,” Cr Swain said.

Construction manager Adam King said it was a “good and successful project” for Daracon.

Office of Environment and Heritage’s (OEH) north west senior flood plan officer, Ivan Rivas Acosta, said OEH was glad the project was successfully completed.

“Council is encouraged to apply for funding to revise the adopted Flood Risk Management Study and Plan in order to update the flood prone area,” he said.

The council said it intends to seek the funding to assess flood-prone land maps.