Our city sits on the floodplains of the Caboolture, Pine and Stanley Rivers and other watercourses. It has 65km of coastline stretching from Donnybrook to Woody Point and includes Bribie Island. It spans diverse terrain from our coastal to our hinterland areas.

We have always experienced natural hazards such as flooding, coastal erosion, storm tide inundation, severe storms, bushfires, heatwaves and landslides. Due to climate change, these events are becoming less predictable, more frequent and severe.

Different hazards affect different parts of Moreton Bay, and some areas are affected by more than one hazard. As our climate changes we expect more complex events where multiple hazards may occur together, increasing their overall impact to our city. Planning, design and construction all play a role in managing these risks to our community, and the planning scheme has an important role in guiding where and how growth can occur safely.

Depending on severity, natural hazards can be very dangerous, threating lives and damaging buildings and infrastructure.

The natural hazards affecting our city include:

• Flooding - when water spreads beyond its normal boundaries, including river, creek and flash flooding

• Coastal erosion - loss of land along the coastline due to waves, tides and rising sea levels

• Storm tide inundation - temporary rises in sea level during severe weather, which can flood low lying coastal areas

• Severe storms - including tropical cyclones and east coast lows, bringing strong winds, heavy rain, wind, flooding and coastal impacts

• Bushfires - uncontrolled fires in vegetation, often during hot, dry and windy conditions

• Heatwaves - extended periods of unusually high temperatures, when it stays extremely hot for several days in a row

• Landslides - movement of soil or rock down slopes, often triggered by heavy rain.

This is your city. By having your say, you can help shape how it grows, how we respond to natural hazards, and the kind of neighbourhood your family will enjoy for years to come. Some suburbs in City of Moreton Bay face greater natural hazard risks, with impacts already being felt through property damage, higher insurance costs and reduced coverage.

You’ve told us you value clear information and strong planning to support resilient communities.

The planning scheme helps manage risk by guiding where and how development occurs, balancing growth while mitigating the impacts of risks like flooding, bushfire, landslide and coastal impacts on people and property.

Getting the planning scheme right matters for all of us, not just today, but for the future generations who will call City of Moreton Bay home.

Planning schemes in Queensland need to plan for natural hazards, including consideration of climate change, to manage risks to people and make sure the community is resilient. Our current planning scheme is aging and will need to be updated to accommodate new data and contemporary approaches to managing natural hazards.

Current approaches include:

• Flooding, Coastal, Bushfire and Landslide hazard areas are mapped and this triggers development rules based on different levels of risk. Higher-risk areas have tighter controls, with some land uses and new development limited or avoided. In some cases, there are also rules to guide safe design, including building levels, access, and measures to reduce hazard impacts, such as resilient building materials.

• In limited areas across the city, where land is significantly affected by hazards (especially flood and coastal hazards) new development is restricted because the risk is too high.

Natural hazard risk is not the same everywhere nor will it remain the same over time.

Our understanding of natural hazards has improved and will continue to improve with new data and updated studies on flooding, bushfire, coastal hazards and landslides.

This means the level of risk in some areas may be different to what is identified in the current planning scheme. It is important to note that the level of risk in parts of the city may continue to change over time, especially as the climate changes.

The new planning scheme may:

• update hazard mapping, including new flooding, bushfire, coastal and landslide overlays for further review during the assessment of new development

• apply clearer and more contemporary rules for development in natural hazard areas based on our understanding of current risk

• vary the scale and intensity of development based on risk

• limit or avoid development in higher-risk areas

We are also reviewing how we manage risk, including:

• exploring new and innovative ways to make our neighbourhoods and buildings more resilient to impacts from natural hazards

• improving guidance on subdivision design and layout that supports resilience and safety

• identifying where infrastructure may be needed to support safer growth

• reviewing where approaches like large-scale filling or earthworks may be suitable

Download this information sheet from the document library.