The City of Ballarat and the CCMA are together undertaking flood planning for 11 waterways across the Ballarat municipality.
Flooding can cause significant damage to property and risk to life. Flood planning is important as it identifies areas at risk of flooding which allows the City of Ballarat to make land use and development decisions to reduce the impacts of flooding. It also allows the City of Ballarat to identify areas where flood mitigation and infrastructure works are needed as well as assisting residents and emergency management authorities to plan for the impact of possible large flood events in the future.
The 11 waterways include: Yarrowee River, Gnarr Creek, Canadian Creek and tributaries, Bonshaw Creek, Redan Creek, Kensington Creek, Chase Waterway, Little Bendigo Creek, Hit or Miss Gully, Warrenheip Creek and Ryans Drain.
Together, the CCMA and the City of Ballarat are the statutory authorities responsible for the collection of flood information and for land use planning in flood-affected areas in the Ballarat municipality.
The flood planning process includes modelling the hydrologic inputs (such as rainfall and runoff) and the calibration of these models against historic floods. The hydraulic behaviour of floods (such as flood heights, extents and velocities) is then also modelled and again calibrated against historic floods. Finally, an assessment is made of the likely consequences of floods of different sizes at particular locations.
A number of recommendations from the flood study are made for each relevant agency including the City of Ballarat, CCMA and Vic State Emergency Service, including:
The Local Government Act 2020 requires councils to develop an integrated, longer-term and transparent approach to planning that supports councils to plan for the sustainable development and well-being of their communities. The requirements for Strategic Planning are governed by the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the key statutory document guiding land use decisions in Ballarat is the Ballarat Planning Scheme.
The City of Ballarat has an obligation under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to ensure the objectives, policies and controls for the use, development and protection of land in the City of Ballarat are regularly reviewed and remain current in the Ballarat Planning Scheme.
| Phone | 5320 5500 |
|---|---|
| info@ballarat.vic.gov.au | |
| Website | www.ballarat.vic.gov.au |
| In writing | The Phoenix |
The City of Ballarat acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land we live and work on, the Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung People, and recognises their continuing connection to the land and waterways. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging and extend this to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.
