Brisbane City Council has introduced interim flood levels and standards as a result of the January floods.

The new planning standard on flooding applies to all properties that were affected by the January floods as well as those exposed to waterway or creek flooding.

It does not apply to industrial or commercial development except for the location of essential services such as electricity supply and communications.

Anybody rebuilding or developing a new property in a flood-prone area will have to ensure floor levels are above the level of flooding.

The regulations also require the location of essential services to be above the interim flood level or they have to be waterproofed.

New property retaining walls must not cause local drainage issues under the new rules, and resilient building materials will now have to be used in new developments.

The council has released a number of new maps showing the revised extent of flood-prone areas of Brisbane and the surrounding suburbs as far out as Ipswich.

Meanwhile, a Victoria council has criticised a “reckless” State Government development on a floodplain.

The Growth Areas Authority is planning a major residential development at Berwick adjacent to a Melbourne Water drainage channel.

City of Casey Mayor Shar Balmes says the council is concerned the project could be unviable unless the flooding issues are dealt with.

“The Growth Areas Authority is moving ahead with planning despite a range of unresolved issues, and this could lead to significant waste as the project’s feasibility has not been fully determined,” he said.

“This land is clearly flood-prone. It is reckless to move forward with planning until we can determine what is needed to ensure the site has adequate drainage.”

In February the Casey municipality suffered from flash flooding and a number of homes were inundated.

The council wants Melbourne Water to deal with the drainage issues that caused the flash flooding rather than working on this new development.