Brisbane residents rush to raise their homes

About 160 Brisbane families have asked permission to raise their flood-affected homes in the wake of January’s devastating floods.

Brisbane City Council last night passed the new guidelines that set a new flood level for the city and gave residents the right to raise their homes up to 9.5 metres above ground level.

It was announced in March, but was passed by Brisbane City Council last night.

Neighbourhood Planning chair Amanda Cooper said council planning teams had dealt with many requests to raise homes.

“We have seen the development assessment team give out 160 queries from people seeking to raise their homes,” she said.

Cr Cooper said the new flood height and by-laws passed by the council last night would make many of the applications “self assessable”, or in the case of homes on small lots, “code notifiable”.

That classification would make the process of raising the homes faster, and also lower council fees.

“We really are trying to respond to the needs of people who in January were devastated,” Cr Cooper said.

Brisbane householders will be able to download new Floodwise Property reports from May 16.

“It will then show the depth that the water reached on their property and allow them to understand whether the new interim flood level does apply to them” Cr Cooper said.

About 12,000 Brisbane homes were affected in January’s floods.

Opposition Labor councillors voted against the new flood height guidelines, saying it allowed too much flexibility in letting fill to be used on blocks that had been flooded.

The Gabba councillor Helen Abrahams, whose ward takes in flood-affected West End, said Labor councillors supported the new by-laws “in principle” but did not approve of using fill in flood-prone areas.

Cr Abrahams said she was already aware of one case where fill was dumped on a block in West End since the new flood height local law was first proposed by the council.

“If there is one within such a short-time how many will there be in six months,” Cr Abraham asked.

Cr Abrahams said the use of fill reduced the ability of flood plains to work effectively.

“What happens to the neighbours? They will be adversely affected as a direct consequence,” she said.

Cr Cooper said the new local law extensively covered the use of fill and accused Cr Abrahams of sending mixed messages on the issue.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said Deputy Premier and Local Government Minister Paul Lucas had signed off on the guidelines, which would remain in force for 12 months.

The council will have to change its planning guidelines after recommendations from the state government’s Queensland Flood Inquiry.

– DISCLOSURE: The reporter, Tony Moore, is among the 160 people who have asked permission to raise their homes.