Business
Baffle Creek, Deepwater and Rules Beach
Interacting with Council
Natural Disaster
Baffle Creek, Deepwater and Rules Beach have been affected by natural disater in recent years, with a number of properties lost in the 2018 Central Queensland bush fires.
The fires started on 22 November 2018 and lasted for almost a fortnight affecting communities in Deepwater, Baffle Creek, Rules Beach, Agnes Water, Winfield, Mount Larcom and Ambrose.Dozens of firefighters were flown to the region from interstate to support the QFES, Rural Fire Brigades and SES on the ground.
While the Local Disaster Management Group was coordinating the response to the fires, recovery efforts were also underway.
During this period, Council worked with partners to establish a Recovery Hub in Baffle Creek. For the following 12 months, a State Government funded Community Development Officer worked in afffected communitities.
The Southern area of the Gladstone Region is also impacted by flooding, which can leave some areas cut off from road access.
There has been several discussions with respect to the construction of the Agnes Water to Baffle Creek Link Road project.In March 2020, Council resolved to not proceed with this project due to the signficant capital expenditure and ongoing maintenance costs for the link road.
Customer Service Requests
The Baffle Creek, Deepwater and Rules Beach community engaged with Council on the following top 20 customer service requests from 30 June 2021 to 1 July 2022:
|
Customer Service Request Type |
|
|---|---|
|
New Initial / Additional Kerbside Collection Levy |
111 |
|
Development services enquiries |
72 |
|
Request to change address / details |
63 |
|
Driveway Access Problems |
58 |
|
Gravel Road Repair (corrugations/stones/ruts/dust) |
57 |
|
Drainage,Kerb,Channelling,Pipes,Gully Pits, Drains |
52 |
|
Roads - grading, potholes,debris,bitumen repair |
48 |
|
Missed Wheelie Bin / Collection Problem |
45 |
|
New Rural Street Address and Replacement Marker |
44 |
|
Public Waste Services Miscellaneous Request |
44 |
|
Pest Noxious Weed / Plant Request |
43 |
|
Information Request General |
40 |
|
Repair / Replacement of Wheelie Bin Request |
36 |
|
Stray / Wandering Livestock - Cattle & Horses |
33 |
|
Building & Plumbing Compliance |
30 |
|
Planning Compliance |
29 |
|
Illegal Dumping / Littering Report |
21 |
|
Collection of Found / Privately Impounded Animal |
20 |
|
Environmental Health Licensing Enquiry |
20 |
|
Waste Admin Haulage for Transfer Stations |
20 |
Rating Arrears
The Baffle Creek, Deepwater and Rules Beach socio-economic position is lower than the Gladstone Region.The median weekly household income for these areas is $859 compared to $1,693 for the Gladstone Region.
Analysing the combined data for Baffle Creek, Deepwater and Rules Beach, the rate arrears are the highest amongst all nine profiles created as part of the 2021/22/23 Operational Plan projects.
Baffle Creek had 22 residential properties in rate arrears at 30 October 2022, which equates to 18.5% of rateable properties. In Deepwater, 55 properties were in arrears, which is 17.6% of rateable properties. Whilst Rules Beach has 13 properties in arrears, equating to 14.8% of rateable properties.
The total rateable residential properties in Gladstone is 13,008. On average, 15.4% of households have outstanding rate payments.
