Interim flood levels - TLPI

Brisbane City Council has moved quickly to give confidence to residents wanting to rebuild or build in flood-affected suburbs after the January 2011 Brisbane River flood. Following advice from the Joint Flood Taskforce Council has put in place interim flood levels and standards. The Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI) 01/11 - Brisbane Interim Flood Response is effective from 16 May 2011.

What is the TLPI?

The TLPI is an interim response that:

• was put in place quickly (usually a change to Brisbane City Plan 2000 can take 18 months)
• prevails over the current Brisbane City Plan 2000 when an inconsistency arises
• gives confidence to those building or rebuilding after the flood
• enables longer term planning provisions to be shaped while it is in effect
• is effective for up to 12 months

The TLPI applies to the land affected by the January 2011 Brisbane River flooding as well as by waterway or creek flooding. View the areas covered by the TLPI - interim flood level maps.

The interim flood line or TLPI does not apply to land affected solely by overland flow or tidal flooding, it affects the following types of development proposals:

	Industrial	Commercial	Residential (including filling)
Development	No	No*	Yes

* Except for location of essential services (electricity supply, telecommunications, fire services) in commercial buildings.

Provisions in the TLPI will be mandatory for new buildings and Council is strongly encouraging residents to adopt them when rebuilding 'like for like'. This will provide better levels of flood immunity for those residents in the future.

New TLPI planning provisions

The new planning provisions introduced by the TLPI:

1. introduces the concept of an Interim Residential Flood Level (IRFL) which will require building levels to be increased
2. allows building heights to increase in response to the IRFL
3. requires the location of essential services (electricity supply, telecommunications, fire services) to be either higher than the IRFL or sufficiently waterproofed
4. states filling and retaining walls must not create local drainage problems or cause amenity issues
5. determines instances where resilient building materials will have to be used in developments. Growth Management Queensland has prepared a fact sheet about resilient building materials. Download repairing your house after a flood (PDF - 242kb).

Areas covered by the interim flood standards

Brisbane City Council's Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI) 01/11 - Brisbane Interim Flood Response applies to the land affected by the Brisbane River flooding (including the January 2011 Brisbane River flood) as well as waterway and creek flooding.

To find out more about the TLPI you can:

• review frequently asked questions (PDF - 721kb )
• download the Temporary Local Planning Instrument 01/11 - Brisbane Interim Flood Response (PDF - 5.8Mb*)
• phone Council on 07 3403 8888

 More information

You can find additional information about your property and the interim residential flood level in the FloodWise Property Report.