Bushfire Risk Management on Vegetated Properties

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Redland City Council has adopted a framework to help landholders manage bushfire risk on properties where vegetation is specifically protected by a building or development envelope or covenant.

Council will allow landholders in certain bushfire risk categories to maintain a firebreak on their land, even if it is subject to a building or development envelope or covenant.

The type of clearing permitted will depend on the property’s size and risk under the Queensland Government’s State Planning Policy ‘bushfire prone area’ mapping.

Properties over 4000m² classified as having ‘very high’, ‘high’ or ‘medium’ potential bushfire risk may remove vegetation under the Queensland Government’s Planning Regulation 2017.

This regulation provides for bushfire mitigation defined as ‘essential management’. This means clearing vegetation:

  • to establish or maintain a necessary firebreak to protect infrastructure, where the maximum width is equal to 1.5 times the height of the tallest vegetation next to the infrastructure, or 20m, whichever is the wider, or
  • for establishing a necessary fire management line, if the maximum width of the clearing for the fire management line is 10m.

Please note that this essential management provision only applies to a ‘necessary firebreak’. A suitably qualified person, such as a Fire Warden or bushfire specialist, can advise that a firebreak is necessary to protect the infrastructure from fire risks. These are the maximum limits. If the suitably qualified person advises that a smaller firebreak is necessary to protect the infrastructure from fire risks, the width provided by the suitably qualified person should be implemented.

For properties less than 4000m² identified as having ‘very high’, ‘high’ or ‘medium’ potential bushfire risk in the bushfire hazard mapping, landowners will be permitted to maintain a firebreak of 10m around a lawfully approved dwelling house as defined by the National Construction Code.

Landowners of properties under 4000 m² will also be allowed to maintain firebreaks and fire management lines within 3m of certain other buildings and structures and a property’s boundary fence line.

Council will continue to enforce covenants and conditions on development approvals related to vegetation clearing to ensure that any protected vegetation removed on private land is for bushfire mitigation purposes only and in accordance with the criteria as outlined above.

For more information, please view the Frequently Asked Questions and helpful web links on this page.

Redland City Council has adopted a framework to help landholders manage bushfire risk on properties where vegetation is specifically protected by a building or development envelope or covenant.

Council will allow landholders in certain bushfire risk categories to maintain a firebreak on their land, even if it is subject to a building or development envelope or covenant.

The type of clearing permitted will depend on the property’s size and risk under the Queensland Government’s State Planning Policy ‘bushfire prone area’ mapping.

Properties over 4000m² classified as having ‘very high’, ‘high’ or ‘medium’ potential bushfire risk may remove vegetation under the Queensland Government’s Planning Regulation 2017.

This regulation provides for bushfire mitigation defined as ‘essential management’. This means clearing vegetation:

  • to establish or maintain a necessary firebreak to protect infrastructure, where the maximum width is equal to 1.5 times the height of the tallest vegetation next to the infrastructure, or 20m, whichever is the wider, or
  • for establishing a necessary fire management line, if the maximum width of the clearing for the fire management line is 10m.

Please note that this essential management provision only applies to a ‘necessary firebreak’. A suitably qualified person, such as a Fire Warden or bushfire specialist, can advise that a firebreak is necessary to protect the infrastructure from fire risks. These are the maximum limits. If the suitably qualified person advises that a smaller firebreak is necessary to protect the infrastructure from fire risks, the width provided by the suitably qualified person should be implemented.

For properties less than 4000m² identified as having ‘very high’, ‘high’ or ‘medium’ potential bushfire risk in the bushfire hazard mapping, landowners will be permitted to maintain a firebreak of 10m around a lawfully approved dwelling house as defined by the National Construction Code.

Landowners of properties under 4000 m² will also be allowed to maintain firebreaks and fire management lines within 3m of certain other buildings and structures and a property’s boundary fence line.

Council will continue to enforce covenants and conditions on development approvals related to vegetation clearing to ensure that any protected vegetation removed on private land is for bushfire mitigation purposes only and in accordance with the criteria as outlined above.

For more information, please view the Frequently Asked Questions and helpful web links on this page.

Page published: 13 Nov 2024, 10:48 AM