Blue Hills zoning & planning overlays
Blue Hills is 100% bushfire-mapped, the highest in Queensland, on 513 ha lots.
Things you won't regret: spending $9 to know the lot before you commit.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Blue Hills
(Townsville City, QLD) - 31.13 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained on the overlays we could measure - no flood mapping covers this suburb, so this is not a suburb-wide verdict.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
31.13 km² - this suburb is highly constrained on the overlays we could measure - no flood mapping covers this suburb, so this is not a suburb-wide verdict.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Blue Hills's boundary, with the bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Magenta is where aircraft were observed in the sampled period, brightest below 3,000 ft. No flood layer is drawn because we hold no flood mapping for this area.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Blue Hills properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 3 analysed Blue Hills properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 3 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Blue Hills.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Blue Hills
The ANEF contour is a published planning forecast and observed overflight is what a sampled tracking feed recorded - neither describes any individual property.
Observed overflight - sampled 4 Sep to 7 Nov 2026
typical observed square 4 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 9,000 ft - night is sampled as often as day, but night traffic is light, so this is a floor and no rate can be put on it.
How this is measured
Traffic is sampled rather than watched continuously, so every figure is a floor: aircraft not captured between samples are not represented. Rates are per 500 m square - the busiest square in the suburb, not a count of flights over the suburb - and a square is only rated where enough traffic was seen to measure it. Altitudes are above mean sea level. Flight paths change with runway use, weather, season and airspace design. This is a record of observed traffic; it is not a noise contour and not a planning control.
Blue Hills at a glance
Schools in and near Blue Hills
Public school-location data shows availability across the suburb; it does not rate schools or assign any individual address to a catchment.
Inside the suburb boundary
0 schools providing primary years and 0 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.
Nearest school availability
Primary: 7.72 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 12.60 km from the suburb boundary
Source: Queensland Government school geographic information. Catchment boundaries can divide a suburb and change over time.
Which school zone is a Blue Hills address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Blue Hills is zoned
Selling in Blue Hills? The lot-level zone is the zoning Part 3 of Queensland's Form 2 seller disclosure statement asks for - see our Form 2 planning data guide.
Across its 31.13 km², Blue Hills is highly constrained by the planning overlays we hold. We hold no flood mapping covering this suburb, so no flood figure is shown - that is a gap in our data, not an all-clear. Of what is mapped, 100% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Rural. The terrain is gently undulating, and the median lot measures about 5,127,887 m² across 4 parcels.
Recent development applications in Blue Hills
Applications are counted across the whole gazetted suburb from the public Townsville City Council register. No application address or individual property is published here.
Submitted in the past 12 months
No geocoded application submissions were found for this suburb in the period.
Counts depend on applications that the council publishes and that can be assigned to a suburb. Categories can overlap when one application covers several types. Totals below five and their latest dates are suppressed. Register last synchronised 8 November 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Blue Hills
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Blue Hills suburb boundary itself, not a wider region.
Socio-economic standing
ABS SEIFA 2021 ranks every Australian suburb. Decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth of the country, decile 10 the least.
Score 977, and decile 6 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Blue Hills's 1,066 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Northern Beaches, the wider ABS statistical area containing Blue Hills. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Blue Hills itself.
5,363 in 2001 to 7,196 in 2025, up 34%.
Source: ABS Census 2021 and SEIFA 2021 (Suburbs and Localities), Regional Population (SA2), CC BY 4.0. Small counts are randomly adjusted by the ABS.
Blue Hills data sources and coverage
“Not mapped” means we hold no source layer for this suburb - never an all-clear.
| Dataset | Coverage | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Flood mapping | Not mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Bushfire-prone mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Zoning | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Heritage and environment | Mapped where published | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Aircraft noise contours (ANEF) | Not held | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data, Defence |
| Observed flight paths | Observed | adsb.lol, under the Open Database License |
| Demographics | Available | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA) |
| School availability | Available | Queensland Government |
| Development applications | Available as suburb totals | Townsville City Council |
Profile last materially updated 7 November 2026. See the methodology and full source list. Source data changes over time and critical decisions should be checked with the responsible authority.
Check a specific Blue Hills address
See exactly which overlays touch a single property - the interactive map is free. Need it on paper? A full planning PDF is just $9.
See what's in the $9 report →Aircraft have been seen below 3,000 ft over about 8% of Blue Hills. The report's Aircraft Overflight page narrows that to the address itself: how many aircraft a day, how low, and at what heights.
Published flood models are held over parts of Blue Hills. The free check tells you whether one reaches an address; where it does, a Flood Model Report is +$9 with the planning report.
The Terrain Report shows the fall of the block - contours, cross sections and a 3D model of the lot to spin round in your browser (+$9 with the planning report).
Moving here? The Liveability section adds walking times from the address to schools, parks, shops and transport, and the school zones it sits in (+$9 with the planning report).
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Blue Hills lot.
Blue Hills planning - frequently asked
Is Blue Hills flood-prone?
We don't yet hold flood mapping covering Blue Hills, so this page can't say how much of the suburb is flood-affected - that is a gap in our data, not an indication that the suburb is free of flood risk. Townsville City is the authority to check for flood mapping in this area. Across the suburb, 0% of the 3 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk. Published flood models are held over parts of Blue Hills; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Blue Hills bushfire-prone?
Around 100% of Blue Hills is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Townsville City average of 50%.
Is Blue Hills under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 8% of Blue Hills, and over about 38% at any altitude up to 10,000 ft, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 7 Nov 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 7,000 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 8 aircraft a day were recorded passing over one 500 m square. Traffic is sampled rather than watched continuously and flight paths change with runway use, weather and season; the ANEF contour is the planning instrument.
What is the zoning in Blue Hills?
The dominant planning zone in Blue Hills is Rural, though the suburb also includes Conservation.
Does Blue Hills have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Blue Hills.
Is Blue Hills hilly or flat?
Blue Hills is gently undulating: the median ground slope is about 5%, and 33% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 66 m to 73 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Blue Hills?
Across 4 surveyed parcels in Blue Hills, the median lot size is about 5,127,887 m². There are also 3 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Blue Hills?
At the 2021 Census Blue Hills had 1,066 usual residents, with a median age of 37 and an average household size of 3.0 people. The wider Northern Beaches statistical area, which contains Blue Hills, went from 5,363 people in 2001 to 7,196 in 2025, up 34%.
Is Blue Hills an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Blue Hills scores 977 and sits in decile 5 of 10 nationally and decile 6 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Blue Hills?
Median household income in Blue Hills was $2,157 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,510 for the typical suburb in Townsville City. Median rent was $390 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,733 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluewater Park | 6.3 km | 13% | 93% |
| Lynam | 6.5 km | 2% | 91% |
| Black River | 10.0 km | 27% | 45% |
| Bluewater | 10.1 km | 52% | 88% |
| Yabulu | 11.8 km | 73% | 46% |
| Hervey Range | 13.3 km | <1% | 92% |
| Rangewood | 14.6 km | 61% | 60% |
| Saunders Beach | 14.7 km | 100% | 54% |
| Toolakea | 14.7 km | 100% | 55% |
| Jensen | 15.2 km | 74% | 40% |