Media Release: Longford Flood Levee

Posted on April 04, 2019

In order to protect Longford from flooding, the Northern Midlands Council and the Longford community committed a significant financial outlay to build the Longford flood levee which was completed in 2007.

Council continues to upgrade its infrastructure to ensure the ongoing protection and functioning of the levee and flood gates. In the 2019/2020 financial year Council will be automating the Back Creek flood gates, removing the need for manual raising and lowering of the gates during a flood event. In addition, the review of flood modelling data and the effects of climate change on that data is ongoing.

The Northern Midlands Council is pleased to confirm the flood levee remains sufficient to protect against a 1:100 year event.

Under the current planning scheme, use and development of land potentially subject to flooding at a 1% annual exceedance probability (1:100 year event) is subject to the Flood Prone Areas Code.

In the event that property owners seek to change the existing land use zoning of a property to a residential zone, an amendment to the planning scheme will be required. Any amendment to the planning scheme must be consistent with the Regional Land Use Strategy and will be required to take into account the impact of the 1:100 year flood level and projected climate change factors, which may have an impact on future development.

ENDS

I would be pleased to discuss this matter further.

For further information, please contact Mayor Mary Knowles OAM on 0408 766 625.

Date: 4 April 2019