210055 - 327 Kinmond Creek Road, COOTHARABA - Bushfire Risk Assessment

2. Bushfire Regulatory Framework
Given that bushfire hazard can cause harm to people and social wellbeing, damage to property
and impacts to the economy and environment, the management of bushfire hazard in
Queensland is considered to be an integral component of land use planning and development
decisions.

There are three regulatory mechanisms/instruments relevant to this site that regulate
development to avoid and mitigate potential impacts associated with bushfire hazard:

    •   State Planning Policy (SPP) – July 2017 (DILGP, July 2017);

    •   Noosa Council planning scheme – Noosa Plan 2020 (Noosa Council, 2020); and

    •   Australian Standard AS3959:2018 – Construction of Buildings in Bushfire-prone Areas
        (Standards Australia, 2018).

The SPP 2017 identifies the Queensland Government’s policies about matters of state interest
in land use planning and development. The SPP is a broad and comprehensive statutory
planning instrument. It sits above regional plans, standard planning scheme provisions and local
government planning schemes within the hierarchy of planning instruments outlined in the
Planning Act 2016. The SPP is supported by the SPP State Interest guidance material – Natural
hazards, risk and resilience – Bushfire (DSDMIP, 2019) (‘SPP guidance material’) and the
‘Bushfire Resilient Communities – Technical Reference Guide for the State Planning Policy State
Interest - Natural Hazards, Risk and Resilience – Bushfire’ (Queensland Fire and Emergency
Services (QFES), 2019).

The SPP guidance material is used to assist assessment managers and practitioners in applying
the SPP assessment benchmarks when state interests have not been integrated into the local
planning scheme. The SPP assessment benchmarks outlined in Part E of the SPP and Section
4.0 of the SPP guidance apply to development to the extent that the development is assessable
against a planning scheme and only to the extent that the planning scheme is inconsistent with
the SPP.

Australian Standard AS3959:2018 - Construction of Buildings in Bushfire-Prone Areas
(Standards Australia, 2018) specifies the requirements for the construction of buildings in
bushfire-prone areas in order to improve their resistance to bushfire attack. AS3959:2018 applies
to those areas where a regulated map (e.g. planning scheme overlay map) identifies an area as
a bushfire prone area (or similar), requiring calculation of Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) in
accordance with a methodology outlined in the standard.

AS3959:2018 thus prescribes the particular construction details for buildings depending on the
calculated BAL. The detailed requirements relating to construction methods and materials are
typically dealt with as part of building design and enabled via private certification in accordance
with the Building Code of Australia.

The following section of the report provides an overview of the methodology used to assess
bushfire hazard.




PR20257_BAL_327 Kinmond Creek Rd, Cootharaba                                                     5