New permits are required in North Melbourne to combat 100-year flood events

The City of Melbourne has endorsed changes to its planning scheme for flood-affected areas to ensure future developments are more resilient. 

The new planning controls will apply to land affected by Moonee Ponds Creek riverine flooding, as well as drainage flooding in Arden and Macaulay, to ensure new developments are designed with flood mitigation in mind.

Amendment C384 updates the inundation overlay maps and will require landowners or developers looking to build in flood-prone areas of North Melbourne to undergo a planning permit assessment for developments. They will be required to submit a site development plan, a written flood risk and design statement, and elevation and cross-section drawings. 

Speaking at the August 27 council meeting where the amendment was unanimously endorsed, Lord Mayor Nick Reece, said, “this amendment ensures that the council remains responsive to climate change and that we are putting in place a thorough process underpinned by extensive technical modelling.”

The Amendment does not set flood levels for any parcel of land, which will be executed by Melbourne Water who will assess the relevant flood level when a planning permit is sought.

City of Melbourne planning policy manager Terry Westcott said that the flood amendment related to one in 100-year floods.

“Council drains are generally designed to deal with more minor storms so in themselves we can’t say drains are the things that will stop an overland flow from a major storm,” Mr Westcott said. 

According to recommendations from an Independent Planning Panel report, without the proposed overlay schedules, land could be developed in a way that is inconsistent with the safety and protection of life and property.

“To not support the proposed controls would leave substantial areas in the Lower Yarra River and the Moonee Ponds Creek precincts without acceptable flood risk controls. This would not be an ideal outcome, nor would it achieve the outcome sought by the Amendment,” the report said. 

Cr Rohan Leppert noted that the amendments responded to the latest science and modelling and that the assumptions underpinning the planning panel’s recommendations were rigorously tested. 

“We have landed in a place that is absolutely reasonable and will give everyone; landowners, potential developers, every member of the public, some clarity about why we are going about doing this and why the flood overlays are important,” he said. 

The Amendment now awaits the approval of the Minister for Planning. •