Land use planning and floodplain
management
Revised Draft Victorian Floodplain Management Strategy Information
Sheet
The Victorian Government is seeking public feedback on the Revised Draft Victorian Floodplain
Management Strategy.
The proposed policies, actions and accountabilities set the policy direction for floodplain
management in Victoria. A Draft Strategy was released on 26 June 2014 for a six-week
public comment period. Submissions and feedback at public information sessions identified a
number of opportunities to revise the draft Strategy.
The following changes have been incorporated into the Revised Draft Strategy:
 revised rural levee policy
 updates to the chapter relating to stormwater flooding in Melbourne and regional Victoria
 an acknowledgement of the value of Aboriginal communities.
 adapting to climate change to manage flood risk
 clarification around emergency management roles and responsibilities
 guiding principles to support catchment management authority (CMA) role in land use
planning clarification of responsibilities for maintenance of flood warning gauges
 consideration of the environmental benefits of flooding.
This handout sets out the proposals in the Strategy that relate to Aboriginal cultural values and
floodplain management.
The Strategy aims to better prepare Victoria for severe flooding by improving the evaluation and
communication of flood risks. In this way it aims to enable communities and relevant agencies to
take better-informed actions to manage floods.
The Strategy builds on important lessons from the 2010, 2011 and 2012 floods. It also integrates the
outcomes of the subsequent review into the effectiveness of flood warning and response systems,
and the inquiry into flood mitigation infrastructure.
Using planning systems to mitigate flood risks
Flooding is a natural hazard but, unlike most other natural hazards, floods are to a great degree
predictable in terms of their location, depth and extent. This means that appropriate measures can
be developed to reduce flood damage. Land use planning is recognised as being the best means of
avoiding future flooding problems. Through careful planning, flood risks to life, property and
community infrastructure can be minimised and the environmental significance of our floodplains
protected.
An enhanced effort on municipal strategic planning, supported by increased knowledge of flood
hazards, will go a long way towards securing our resilience to floods. Flood overlays need to be
updated as soon as possible after new flood maps are produced and councils require guidance on
planning for access and egress.
Planning Schemes
Victoria’s land use planning system operates through Planning Schemes, which are subordinate
legislation under the Planning and Environment Act 1987. Planning Schemes set out policies and
provisions for the use, development and protection of land. They are legal documents prepared by
local councils and approved by the Minister for Planning.
Planning Schemes contain a Municipal Strategic Statement that explains a council’s objectives and
strategies in exercising land-use controls in a planning scheme. They also contain zones and overlays
(selected from the Victoria Planning Provisions) that regulate the use and development of land. In
seeking to minimise or avoid the growth of future flood risks, the role of councils is to incorporate
flood provisions into their Planning Schemes. The VPPs require councils to consider flood risks when
preparing Planning Schemes (strategic planning), and in making land use planning decisions
(statutory planning). The planning provisions include one zone (urban floodway) and three overlays
(floodway, special building and land subject to inundation), which are used to delineate varying
levels of flood risk and provide guidance on the assessment of applications
The consideration of flood risk in Planning Schemes is supported by the Victorian Government’s
regional growth plans. The plans recognise the impacts of natural hazards, including flood, and set
strategies for development to be located away from flood hazard areas and, where relevant, areas
prone to coastal inundation as a result of climate change. These plans provide broad direction for
strategic planning on regional land use and development and are written into the State Planning
Policy Framework of all Planning Schemes.
Application of planning and building regulations
Planning and building regulations ensure that proposed new developments and redevelopments
have regard for the applicable flood risk. If the risk is judged to be intolerable, a development
proposal may be rejected. However, in most cases development would be subject to conditions to
treat the risk, the siting of the development on areas of lowest risk, the standard of building
construction and, where acceptable, works to divert floodwater away from a development.
For planning and building purposes, the Victorian Government has affirmed the status of the 1% AEP
flood as the design standard for floodplain mapping and in the regulation of new development in
Victoria. The impacts of floods rarer than the 1% AEP (annual exceedance probability) flood are not
mandated through the planning and building systems, but may be considered where appropriate.
Streamlining planning scheme amendments
The regulation of new development within Victoria’s floodplains is reliant on the application of
appropriate zone and overlay mapping in Planning Schemes. While Victoria’s flood databases
indicate that 11.5% of the Victorian landmass is prone to a 1% AEP flood (see Figure 1), our planning
system records 7.5% of the landmass as being covered by flood overlays. This leaves 4% of the
landmass without appropriate Planning Scheme overlays, or approximately 9,000 square kilometres.
To address the gaps, Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (DELWP) will work closely
with local councils to make sure that flood-prone land is covered by appropriate overlays. For
example, it will make sure future flood studies provide draft Planning Scheme amendments as a
standard output. DELWP will also work with local councils to streamline the processes involved in
converting flood study outputs into Planning Scheme amendments.
Annual exceedance probability (AEP)
The likelihood of the occurrence of a flood of a given or larger size occurring in any one
year, usually expressed as a percentage. For example, if a peak flood flow of 500 m3/s
has an AEP of 5%, it means that there is a 5% chance (i.e. a one-in-20 chance) of a flow
of 500 m3/s or larger occurring in any one year.
Proposed Policy 10a
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The 1% Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) flood will remain the design flood event to
regulate new development and construction standards in Victoria
Proposed Action 13c
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The CMAs and Melbourne Water will develop implementation plans for their regional
strategies that, as appropriate, will seek to either:
o help convert existing flood study data into Planning Scheme amendments; or
o conduct new flood studies to provide draft Planning Scheme amendments.
DELWP will work with local government authorities (LGAs) to streamline the processes
involved in converting flood study outputs into appropriate municipal Planning Scheme
amendments.
DELWP will work with key stakeholders such as Municipal Association of Victoria to
understand significant constraints of implementing appropriate municipal Planning Scheme
amendments.
Figure 1 shows a map of the total 1% AEP flood extent for Victoria. It excludes storm-water flooding
for Melbourne and other urban centres.
Figure:1 Portion of Victoria affected by the 1% AEP flood has been deleted.
Planning for access and egress
The planning permit application process enables a risk-based assessment of accessway safety based
on the characteristics of flooding of a site, and where the development site is within existing flood
zones or overlays. However, there are some instances where a development site may not be located
within a flood zone or overlay but its accessway may be flood-affected. At present there is no
automatic referral (to a CMA or Melbourne Water) for such development but circumstances can
arise where it is the flooding of accessways that limits land use options rather than the flooding of
the sites themselves. This example limits the ability of councils to adequately plan for flood risk, can
blind or create uncertainty for property buyers about the safety or suitability of the site for
development, and can increase pressure on emergency services during flood events (due to the
unrestricted permitting of new development).
To overcome these issues, an integrated approach is required which enables full disclosure of the
flood risk and which facilitates effective strategic planning to address the risk. Activities will include
mapping the risk, developing guidelines for the assessment of the risk, and facilitating appropriate
consideration of the risk in local strategic planning and future development applications. This will
enable a movement away from the current case-by-case consideration of new development within
the floodplain.
Proposed Policy 13b

The need for safe accessways during floods will be considered in the preparation of strategic
plans for future development, it will also be considered in Municipal Planning Schemes.
Proposed Action 13b
DELWP will prepare, for inclusion in the State Planning Policy Framework, guidelines on the
assessment of flood risks associated with accessways to help inform local land use planning.
How to get a copy
Detailed information on Land use planning and floodplain management as well as a range of matters
relating to floodplain management in Victoria can be found in the Revised Draft Victorian Floodplain
Management Strategy, available at www.delwp.vic.gov.au/revised-draft-floodplain-managementstrategy or by calling the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning customer service
centre on 136 186.
List of available information sheets
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Overview of the Revised Draft Victorian Floodplain Management Strategy
Aboriginal cultural values and floodplain management
Land use planning and floodplain management
Insurance and managing flood risks
Environment and floodplain management
Total Flood Warning Systems
Managing levees and waterways in rural areas
Managing levee and waterways in urban areas outside Melbourne
Your chance to have a say
The Victorian Government welcomes feedback on the Revised Draft Victorian Floodplain
Management Strategy. Submissions must be in writing and may be emailed to
VMFS.Inquiry@delwp.vic.gov.au or sent to:
Victorian Floodplain Management Strategy
PO Box 500
East Melbourne VIC 3002
The closing date for submissions is 8 August 2015.
You need to know:
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The information you provide in your submission, or in any other response, will only be used
by DELWP and the Interdepartmental Stakeholder Reference Group to consider as part of
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the development of the final strategy. However, it may be disclosed to other relevant
agencies
as part of the consultation process.
All submissions will be treated as public documents and will also be published on the
internet for public access.
All addresses, phone numbers and email details will be removed before submissions are
published on the internet. Formal requests for confidentiality will be honoured but freedom
of information access requirements will apply to submissions treated as confidential.
If you wish to access information in your submission once it is lodged with DELWP, contact the
project team at the above address.