Redland sewerage plant site excluded from flood map review which will include 145 Logan blocks
Hundreds of blocks of flooded land will be part of mapping investigations which will not include the flooded site of a proposed sewerage plant on the Logan River.
Logan
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A planned sewerage plant site, which flooded last week, will not be part of council flood mapping reviews, which will include hundreds of blocks of land which were swamped in the area’s worst floods on record.
The state government, in conjunction with councils, will reassess flood data including the development approvals process in southeast Queensland after 145 Logan properties went under last week.
However, the site of a proposed $30 million sewage treatment plant, which drains into the Logan River and was submerged for days last week, will not be reviewed by Redland City Council which said it was not its problem.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles triggered the investigations after visiting flood sites last week “that frankly, should not have been built upon”.
He said he was looking forward to talking with local government mayors about updating planning schemes to incorporate the impact of climate change.
However, his State Development Department said it would not investigate the sewerage plant site and already knew it was on flood-prone land.
The department said the site included 10 hectares of mangroves, to provide extra flood storage for the river.
“The plant has been designed to ensure there is no significant environmental impact to the surrounding area or the water quality in the Logan River, and includes an automated warning system to provide alerts in the event of an emergency,” the department said.
Logan and Redland residents backed the deputy premier’s vow to bring local councils to account for allowing building on flood-prone land.
Logan City Council said it would fast track a review of all flood data with development approvals and maps to be updated as part of an obligatory 10-year review.
The council said the new flood areas would be added to the next planning scheme, which would become an active document in 2025.
Logan refused to say if it would cut rates for affected properties but said it was working on some sort of financial assistance package.
Redland City Council refused to respond to questions on its flood mapping and refused to answer questions on the flooded sewerage plant site on wetlands in Carbrook.
“Questions relating to the siting of the treatment plant should be directed to the state government, which approved it, based on its own assessment of flood impacts,” the council said.
Logan resident Ken Thomas, whose Logan River property is next to the sewerage plant urged Minister Miles to act, claiming the site was inappropriate for a sewerage plant as it was flooded for eight days last week.
“The wetlands area for the sewerage plant’s inlet drain, effluent ponds, mangroves development and outlet drain from and to the Logan River was flooded badly for seven to eight days,” he said.
“It was dangerous when combined with the high tides with current flood levels similar to 1974, and will occur again.
“If it had occurred during December-January when king tides and occasional tidal surges occur, flooding would have been even greater.
“We live adjacent to this proposed development and have been here since the early 1970s.
“This site is totally unsuitable for a sewerage treatment plant.”
Mr Thomas said Lendlease and Redland City Council along with other developers in the area should start looking for a more suitable site.
Logan City Council objected to the proposed treatment plant claiming it would be the fourth sewerage outlet to dump water into the Logan River.
The state government granted $15 million to international blue-chip developer Lendlease to build the plant on the wetlands which border Logan and Redland.
The road to the site, the main thoroughfare between Redland and Logan, was closed for four days during last week’s flood when 1m-deep rapid water swept across Beenleigh-Redland Bay Rd at Carbrook.
The plant is designed to treat sewage for 10,000 residents in a private housing estate which is already built but has no public sewerage system in place.
Redland council declined to say whether it had referred the sewage plant designs back to the state government for further review.
Mr Miles called in the project last year taking any heated political decision-making out of the hands of Redland City councillors.
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