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Government GIS

Queensland to launch largest floodplain mapping initiative

By Clarice Africa | 19 September 2011

Anna Bligh, Queensland Premier and Minister for Reconstruction announced on Friday, the plan to launch the state’s largest floodplain mapping initiative in an effort to create a more standardised approach on floodplains management and land use in the Australian state.

According to Minister Bligh, the initiative brings together, for the first time, an option for councils to strengthen the connection between land use planning and flood plain management. “This is a new broader approach to floodplain mapping developed on a whole-of-catchment view rather than council by council,” she said in an official statement.

Meanwhile the draft “Planning for Stronger, more Resilient Floodplains” guideline, which was developed in consultation with more than 10 councils, the LGAQ, Geosciences Australia, and the Fitzroy Basin Association, is now open for a 40-day public consultation.

“This toolkit will help councils ask questions early in the development process so that issues can be identified and addressed sooner rather than later,” the Premier said.

The objectives of the toolkit are to promote better understanding of floodplains and how to manage them, promote greater correlation between floodplain management and land use planning, provide councils with a series of criteria that can be quickly adopted to help with the assessment of potential development sites, and to ensure more appropriate building designs in floodplain constructions.

Minister Bligh added that the toolkit includes a standard template for a development assessment code which includes basic provisions to support better outcomes from development applications.

“Sensible planning on floodplains is not about stopping development. We are simply saying extra caution needs to be shown about the location of developments and the types of structures built in floodplain areas.”

“This is a first step in creating a more standardised approach to floodplain management and mapping across Queensland,” she said.

In order fast track the huge task of mapping Queensland’s floodplains, the Queensland Reconstruction Authority will be collaborating with other state agencies and LGAQ.

“There are 128 river catchments in Queensland. Sixty-seven of these catchments affect significant population centres and are being treated as a priority to be completed before the next wet season commences,” she said.

“Thirty-nine of these river catchments have already been mapped, which thus represents more than 1200 maps at 1:50,000 scale covering some of Queensland’s hardest hit regional towns - an area significantly larger than Victoria.

This work goes beyond the larger urban centres where detailed mapping has already been undertaken. By October, 40 per cent of the State will have been mapped under the new program.

Combined with existing floodplain mapping, this will represent coverage for about 90 per cent of Queensland’s population. By the middle of next year there will be floodplain maps for all relevant areas of the State.

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