Background
Client: Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management
The Queensland Government Department of Environment and Natural Resources contracted Buckley Vann Town Planning Consultants and BMT to assist with the development of a proposed planning and assessment code and associated guidelines to support Coastal Management. Working closely with Departmental officers, the joint Buckley Vann/BMT team prepared the following documentation: a draft regulatory code for coastal management under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 for consideration by local government in preparing planning schemes; a draft guideline to assist in interpreting the code; and draft case studies illustrating how the code could function if approved in the context of potential development.
Outcomes and Benefits
BMT’s specific role in the project was to provide drafting support and technical guidance in terms of key coastal management issues including:
The project demonstrated effective integration of coastal science and engineering concepts into planning and decision making with the resultant draft code drawing upon best practice approaches elsewhere and drawing of coastal management issues into a single comprehensive instrument.
Services and Expertise Provided:
Building on the Port of Cairns Cruise Shipping Demand Study undertaken by BMT in 2010 – 2011, BMT is working with project partner Arup to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Port of Cairns Shipping Development Project.
The Surface Water Management Plans (SWMPs) outline an assessment of surface water flood risk, recognising the flood mechanisms and economic impact to residential and commercial properties across the catchments of Clacton on Sea and Sawbridgeworth.
BMT, in association with Buckley Vann town planners and the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland (UQ), undertook a climate change vulnerability and adaptation planning study for the remote centre of Choiseul Bay, at the northern tip of the Solomon Islands.
Local governments in South East Queensland that contain over a certain population are required by the recently revised Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009 to develop and start implementing a Total Water Cycle Management (TWCM) plan before 1 July 2012.