Tamworth Regional Council's proposed flood plan areas to include East and North Tamworth

Heavy rainfall flowing down the face of the rolling hills could land about 500 more residents in flood planning locations as council looks to expand its risk management plan.

Tamworth Regional Council's stormwater engineer Aidan Pugh said the new Flood Risk Management Plan, which has flowed on from a city-wide investigation, will affect what can be built, and where.

He said developers looking to build in North and East Tamworth will have "more hoops to jump through" if the land they're eyeing off falls in the proposed zone.

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"It's a slightly more complicated process," he said.

"You'll have to demonstrate you're not going to have any more adverse flood affects from your development, and you're not going to cause unreasonable risk to the community."

Those already in homes that have now found themselves included in the proposed flood plan areas, have been notified by council.

An East Tamworth resident told the Leader they were "very surprised" to receive a letter in their mailbox to tell them they were now facing a flood risk.

Another local said they were concerned their insurance premiums would skyrocket and their house would be devalued after the new proposed flood zones included more of their Kingswood property.

"All I want is a letter to say it won't affect my entire property, I'll be able to get insurance, and the value of my home won't go down," they told the Leader.

Mr Pugh said insurers do their own assessments and he'd "like to think" what council is proposing won't "have an affect on insurance premiums directly".

Council has done a "good job" at keeping residents dry from flooding from the Peel River, but the threat facing residents in the hills is overland flows and ageing infrastructure.

"During intense rainfall the infrastructure can't handle the flows," he said.

"East Tamworth is obviously the oldest part of town, so the infrastructure there is not up to modern standards."

The inclusion of properties has been based on areas that would be inundated in a one-in-100 year flooding event.

Homes where runoff could reach 150 millimetres across more than 10 per cent of the property have also been included.

"Inclusion in the flood planning area does not mean these property owners can't develop," Mr Pugh said.

"Just that the risk of flooding needs to be considered when doing so."

Council will also consider improvements to the drainage networks in East Tamworth, and pumping out water from behind the levee to protect the CBD.

Other mitigation measures listed in the plan include developing early warning systems, voluntary house raising and flood education programs.

The Flood Risk Management Plan is on public exhibition on council's website until Friday May 19.

Plans are already in place for Nundle, Woolomin, Manilla, Bendemeer and Barraba.

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