It is a shared responsibility.

  • Land developers and their consultants are responsible for addressing stormwater impacts when preparing their proposals.
  • Registered Building Surveyors are responsible for issuing building permits that consider the impacts.
  • Council is responsible for issuing planning permits that consider the impacts.

1. Firstly, make a flood level application to Council.

2. Consider asking a licensed land surveyor to prepare a land-level survey plan for the property. This plan should show the affected area and give land levels in the Australian Height Datum.

3. The designer of the development should consider how best to manage the 1 in 100 year risks and prepare preliminary plans.

4. We recommend contacting Council’s Urban Planning team to discuss the proposal’s preliminary plans. Do this before submitting a permit application.

You need a Drainage Connection permit.

This permit lets Council know you are doing the work so we can check the drains afterwards.

There is more information about Drainage Connection Permits on Council's website.

If affected by:

It is the location where Council requires a property to discharge its stormwater. The location is usually at Council's nearest stormwater drain.

Land developers must apply to Council for a 'legal point of discharge report'. A building surveyor must consider the report before issuing a building permit.

You can find more information about Legal point of discharge on Council's website.

Council includes conditions on planning permits for new development to manage stormwater runoff. This includes doing on-site stormwater retarding works to reduce impacts elsewhere. Also, new buildings have their floor levels constructed above the 1 in 100 year level of the stormwater.

Yes. Council has a Development Contribution Plan (DCP) in the Merri-bek Planning Scheme. This plan requires land developers to make a financial contribution to infrastructure projects listed in a report.

You can find more information on the DCP at Council's Development Contributions website.