Relocation of Grantham following the January 2011 Flash Flood

By Tetsuya Okada, Rob van den Honert and Deanne Bird

More than a year has passed since the devastating floods in . The township of Grantham was severely impacted during these events – 12 people lost their lives – and 119 houses were destroyed throughout the Lockyer Valley. The Risk Frontiers team visited the Lockyer Valley Regional Council to discuss the progress of their recovery, including the council’s unique land-swap program.

The 2011 Flash Flood in the Lockyer Valley On 10th January 2011, flash flooding occurred in and the . The flash flood was caused by a combination of several factors, including intense rainfall, ground already saturated due to incessant rain over the previous 6 weeks, and steep topography. As a result of the flash flood, 19 people lost their lives in the Valley (12 of them in Grantham), 119 houses in the Lockyer Valley Regional Council (LVRC) local government area were destroyed and a further 2,798 houses were inundated (LVRC, 2012). Nearly every house in the ‘southern development’ area of Grantham sustained structural damage caused by the velocity of the floodwaters. Some were washed off their stumps and completely destroyed, whilst others were rendered uninhabitable. A total of 47 water rescues were conducted and 43 helicopter rescues carried out in the Lockyer Valley. The LVRC Relocation Plan In the days immediately following the flash flood, the Lockyer Valley Regional Council (LVRC) made a critical decision of “acting quickly” to establish a clear view for the community. It soon became evident that a significant number of the residents wanted to rebuild in Grantham but did not want to rebuild properties that were subject to future flooding. Depreciated land values and a shortage of safe housing lots limited the options for many victims. Finding a planning solution that could enable existing residents to stay in the community but in safer circumstances was a key to Grantham’s recovery. The LVRC decided on a policy of removing the risk of future flooding, rather than to simply mitigate it. The policy included a scheme to voluntarily relocate residents of the flooded towns of Grantham, Murphys Creek, Postmans Ridge, and Helidon, whose homes had been destroyed or suffered major damage, to higher ground outside the flood zone. Relocating an entire settlement after damage from severe floods has occurred before in Australia, but the LVRC’s Grantham “land-swap program” is quite innovative. Examples of previous relocations are Gundagai on the Murrumbidgee River in NSW (1852) and Clermont in Queensland (1916). Loss of life in both these floods was extreme: in Gundagai 89 people

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drowned (still Australia’s worst-ever flood in terms of loss of life), and in Clermont 64 people drowned. Relocation is indeed possible when the number of homes/buildings to be moved is relatively small, and a risk-free parcel of land is available nearby. Grantham fitted that bill perfectly. A site of approximately 937 hectares adjoining the existing township on a hill- side that was not affected by the recent flood was available for sale, and the LVRC was able to secure the site for the proposed new development within days of the flood. The LVRC funded the land purchase from Council funds. This parcel of land was big enough to accommodate future growth of the town, as well as a new showgrounds site, freeing up the existing showground site for the development of industry in a location where it would increase Grantham’s economic resilience. The LVRC engaged an urban design and planning consultant to prepare a site analysis, to facilitate master planning workshop sessions with the community, and to design a preferred master plan for the new site. The planners did not work in isolation: together with the LVRC, they fully engaged with the community right from the start of the process. Senior Queensland police and LVRC officers facilitated weekly community meetings and one-on-one interviews with affected residents to ensure that a clear picture was painted of the needs and aspirations of the entire community. To address skepticism about the feasibility of the planned relocation expressed at the community meetings, the Council started earth works on the new estate in a very early stage of the recovery process to demonstrate that the plan was becoming a reality. This consultation provided the blueprint for the master plan and enabled the community to be actively involved in creating their future. The master plan was presented to the community on 26th March 2011 – 10 weeks after the flood. To enable the rapid planning responses necessary to ensure that homes could be rebuilt as soon as possible, the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) declared Grantham as the first Reconstruction Area under the Queensland Reconstruction Authority Act 2011 (QRA Act) on 8th April 2011 – less than 3 months after the disaster. The declaration would enable a fast-tracked regulatory process to ensure that the ambitious program to deliver the first houses on the higher ground before Christmas could be achieved. The QRA, through a formalised process under the QRA Act, translated LVRC’s master plan into a regulatory framework in the form of the Proposed Development Scheme for the Grantham Reconstruction Area. Given the need for the development scheme to ultimately transition back into the Council’s planning scheme, the QRA prepared the development scheme using the Queensland Planning Provisions (QPP) template. The Proposed Development Scheme was released for public consultation on 11th May 2011 through to 23rd June 2011. Six submissions were received, and these were incorporated into the

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Proposed Development Scheme, which was formally accepted as the Submitted Scheme on 30th June 2011. On 7th June 2011 construction of engineering works (sewerage, town water, roads, stormwater etc) started on the new site. The State and Federal Governments have together contributed $18 million for the provision of infrastructure for the new site. The strategic and immediate needs for change in the face of the flash flood disaster in Grantham moved the State Government to work quickly to realise the community-based future vision of the community. The LVRC Voluntary Land-Swap Program At a local level, the land-swap program aims to offer an opportunity for relocation to the new (safer) development area for the 119 Grantham and surrounding property owners whose houses were heavily affected by the 2011 flood (LVRC, 2011).

• Eligible property owners have an option to swap their existing residential land for a land block of similar size within the newly developed area. • Residents undertaking the land-swap can nominate their preferred block(s) within the new development, although final selection will be by a ballot. The ballot will be conducted by an independent consultant to ensure complete transparency of the process. • Participation in this program is completely voluntary. • The Council will assume ownership of the vacated land in the flood-affected area for non-residential use (e.g. grazing, pasturage etc), while the landowner will be responsible for removing the existing buildings from the vacated site. • Stamp duty for the land-swap will be waived by the State government, and capital gains tax would be rolled over. • No restrictions are put on owners regarding resale of the swapped land. Thus owners can make the swap and resell the land, if so desired. As part of the Grantham recovery program the Council adapted their planning framework and decreed a minimum floor height for any houses built (or rebuilt) in the flood-affected area. The initial ballot was held on 6th August 2011. 72 land-owners took up the offer of a land swap. A second ballot was held on 18th February 2012 and a further 12 residents took up the offer. Thus as many as 84 out of the 119 eligible households (approximately 70%) have already taken up the offer in a little over a year. Moreover, 85% of those that took up the offer were eventually allocated one of their top three choices of block. Currently, there are 13 homes completed in the new estate with families living in them with another 25 homes under construction. This has been achieved only 19 months after the disaster.

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The offer was originally designed to end on 30th June 2012, but it has now been extended for another 12 months. From now on new land blocks will be allocated on a first come, first served basis (i.e. no ballot as such). Approximately 30-40 homes in Laidley South are expected to become eligible. The Council has future plans to develop a further 400 land blocks on the new site for sale to the general public. The site is located adjacent to the Gatton Bypass (the highway connecting Toowoomba to , built around 10 years ago) which bypassed the old Grantham entirely, leading to decline which it is hoped will be reversed by providing the new development with a direct access to the Bypass. Issues and Challenges Due to the voluntary nature of the land-swap program, some eligible residents exercised their right to remain on their existing flood-impacted properties. Obviously the LVRC remain very keen for these residents to participate in the land-swap program or to relocate elsewhere, but some residents were simply not ready to make the decision, and for others the lot size offered in the land-swap, or financial, insurance, and in some cases, legal implications impacted on their decision. Homeowners who chose not to relocate were required by Council to sign a document confirming that they had read and understood all the relevant information about the land-swap and had declined the offer. Thus any risk from potential damage and loss from future catastrophic flooding lies with the homeowner, rather than with the Council. Another issue is the likely increase of council rates for residents who move into the new development, which may contribute to the uncertainty in some homeowners’ decision making regarding the land-swap.

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