Caboolture Shire Council’s Bushfire and Landslide Hazard Mapping Study (2005) recently received national recognition at the Planning Institute Australia (PIA) Awards for Planning Excellence ceremony held at PIA National Planning Congress on the Gold Coast. The award was for the Environmental Planning or Conservation category.
Caboolture’s Planning and Environment Manager, Leo Jensen, has applauded the efforts of Council’s environmental planning team for undertaking this important work.
“The study demonstrates a commitment by Caboolture Council to innovative planning that minimises the risks to residents who may be exposed to bushfire and landslip hazards,” Leo Jensen said.
This study provides and demonstrates a thorough methodology that can be applied elsewhere in advancing disaster management and mitigation planning. It has resulted in enhanced vegetation mapping for the Shire that is second to none.
Caboolture Shire has a population of 135,000, and is located in Southeast Queensland’s northern growth corridor, midway between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. It borders five Local Government areas including Caloundra City to the north, Kilcoy and Esk Shire’s to the west, Pine Rivers Shire to the south, and Redcliffe City to the southeast. It is a rapidly growing region characterised by increasing residential, rural/residential, industrial and rural development in areas that are known to be susceptible to natural hazards.
Effective environmental management and land use planning are important means of reducing the community’s vulnerability to natural hazards. It also promotes resilient communities.
The Shire includes vast areas of environmentally sensitive land, such as the internationally significant Pumicestone Passage, fringing waterways and wetlands and threatened regional ecosystems. Most of the natural vegetation communities of the region are ‘fire climax’ communities that have evolved to the point where they rely, to varying degrees, on fire for regeneration.
Between April 2004 and January 2005, Caboolture Shire Council completed its Bushfire and Landslide Hazard Assessment Study, in accordance with State Planning Policy 01/03 – Mitigating the Adverse Impacts of Flood, Bushfire and Landslide (SPP 01/03). The purpose of the study was to provide essential information to enable Council to identify the extent and severity of bushfire and landslide hazard throughout the Shire, based on high resolution vegetation community mapping.
The information has been incorporated into the Caboolture ShirePlan, to adequately address bushfire and landslide hazard issues and facilitate a more accurate and informed assessment of future development during the development assessment process. The outputs from the study also inform Council’s biodiversity planning and management across the Shire, education campaigns about vegetation, bushfire and landslide hazard issues; and operational vegetation management, bushfire and landslide hazard mitigation and management on Council property.
The study was prepared by Caboolture Shire Council, in partnership with Queensland Department of Emergency Services, Commonwealth Department of Transport and Regional Services, Rob Friend and Associates Pty Ltd, Soil Surveys Engineering; AUS GIS, DGF Vegetation Assessments and Management, and David Stanton Consultancy.
This is Caboolture Shire’s second National Award for Planning Excellence in three years, receiving its previous award for its Shirewide Scenic Amenity Study. Council’s voluntary conservation agreement program has also received State recognition in the environmental planning field.
For further information about the study, contact Council’s Manager Planning and Environment, Leo Jensen, on (07) 5420 0222.
