Man behind Grantham land swap following devastating 2011 floods reveals key factors that led to plan’s success

Grantham was virtually swept away by a horrifying wave of water in 2011. But an ambitious plan spearheaded by the region’s mayor turned the community around.

Flood and Rain aftermath of Grantham. Wednesday January 12, 2011. Photo Bev Lacey

How do you move an entire flood-ravaged town within 18 months?

That was the question on Jamie Simmonds’ mind while he was on his way to Grantham in the Lockyer Valley in 2011, on the request of then-Mayor Steve Jones.

Mr Simmonds, an engineer and planner with extensive local government experience, was tasked by Cr Jones with leading the team that would move hundreds of residents out of the low-lying flood plains near the Sandy Creek and onto higher ground to the north.

More than 150 homes had been destroyed by the 3m tsunami of water that ripped through the town on January 10.

A dozen people were dead or missing, and the area had been described by witnesses as a bomb site.

Yet incredibly, the first residents were moving into their new properties by the end of 2011, thanks to a land swap arrangement involving the Lockyer Valley Regional Council as well as the State and Federal Governments.

Residents inspect the blocks being offered in the land swap arrangement for people who lost their homes in the Grantham floods. supplied. August 2011.

But Mr Simmonds is adamant Cr Jones was essential to bringing it all together.

“He gave me a ring a couple of days after the floods — I said I’d be out there in the morning,” he said.

“Steve was an action man and he realised he needed some help.

“He had an idea of relocating Grantham, but he only talked about it briefly because they hadn’t fleshed out the idea.

“He led from the front and drove it from that high level, and myself and our team, which included a few people from council, pulled it together to make it a reality.

“Steve, the leadership he had in driving it, made it workable — if you didn’t have that frontman, it wouldn’t have worked.”

The land deal, which was called Strengthening Grantham, allowed residents to swap their land in the high-risk flood area for an equivalent size in the new estate that had been bought by the LVRC.

Lockyer Valley Regional Council Mayor Steve Jones and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh. Strengthening Grantham development. Opening new housing estate in Grantham. Land Swap. Photo Dave Noonan / The Chronicle

Aside from Cr Jones’ leadership, Mr Simmonds said other key factors allowed the deal to be done quickly and most-effectively.

“At the end of the day, it didn’t boil down to planning and development, or the technical aspects of it,” he said.

“When we have the political weight behind that sort of thing, we had started building before we had approvals.

“It was also speed around keeping the media attention on it — we were trying to stay in that media spotlight, because that forced the politicians to give us the money.

“We had machinery out on-site by April, and we didn’t have anywhere to tell them to go, (because) we could get a camera out there, and it breeds that activity.

“No one wanted to say no, from the Prime Minister down — (then) Premier Anna Bligh wanted us to keep moving.”

Lockyer Valley Mayor Steve Jones with Jamie Simmonds.

The Grantham move was so successful that Mr Simmonds, originally from upstate New York, toured the United States to showcase how he and his team were able to do it.

Mr Simmonds stayed in the Lockyer for five years, until Cr Jones’ sudden death from a massive stroke in 2016.

Reflecting on the saga, he said the greatest lesson he learned was about following through on promises.

“When you go into a community that is disaster-affected, when you go into that community and make that promise to deliver something, the weight of that is huge,” Mr Simmonds said.

“You can’t let them down – they already feel let down and are suffering.

“When you say you’re going to do this, you’d better deliver it.

“The consequences of failure in normal life are minor (but) in a disaster, lives are on the line and you’re holding someone’s mental wellbeing in your hand.

“Local government here did something really special and delivered on it.”