3 October 2025

Melbourne Water, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change, and the Department of Transport and Planning are ensuring Victorians have the latest flood risk information so they can better plan and manage climate risks and build new homes safely.

Melbourne Water has started a staged release of updated flood mapping across Greater Melbourne, to take place over the next two years.

To ensure development decisions account for new information about flood risk, we’ll include new modelling data in planning schemes through a streamlined planning scheme amendment process. The changes will see existing flood studies prepared by Melbourne Water and regional CMAs progressively implemented into local planning schemes over the next two years.

Once this is done, any new builds or renovations that need a planning permit would be assessed against this new flood information.

Previously, flood studies and planning schemes amendments were generally the responsibility of councils. This new state-led approach will reduce the cost and administrative burden on councils.

Developing new planning and building controls to manage flood risk

We’re developing new risk-based planning and building controls to provide better property-level flood risk information.

The new controls will make sure planners and developers have better access to flood risk information, and will help them make informed decisions about:

  • where to build (avoiding the highest-risk zones)
  • what to build (designing resilient structures)
  • how to build (using flood-safe construction standards).

The controls will provide clarity by distinguishing between very high-risk areas where development must be avoided, high-risk areas where development warrants careful assessment, moderate-risk areas where projects will need to include the right safeguards and low-risk areas where minimum building requirements will apply.

In areas with low flood risk, developments will only need to manage flood risk through the building system, avoiding the unnecessary delay of a planning application. This will provide more certainty and fast track housing in the right locations.

For all but very high-risk areas, risk-based controls will enable appropriate development that responds to the flood risk providing landowners and industry with certainty about what housing can be built where and how.

In other states like New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania that are prone to flooding, new buildings are built to meet flood hazard requirements. This can include the type of building materials, placement of services like power outlets and use of split-level designs.

We’ll be working closely with floodplain management authorities and local governments to translate flood risk information into planning controls through a planning scheme amendment process.

These changes will better reflect consideration of climate change impacts over time including how to manage flood and climate risks as we plan for more homes in the places people want to live. This delivers on a plan for Victoria's action 19: better communicate and manage flood, bushfire and climate hazard risks.

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Page last updated: 03/10/25