Saunders Beach flood map & planning overlays
Saunders Beach matches Hyde Park's 607 m² blocks, joint 8th-smallest in the city.
Most lots here are flood-mapped. The free check shows how much of one lot the overlay covers.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Saunders Beach
(Townsville City, QLD) - 2.8 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
2.8 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Saunders Beach's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Magenta is where aircraft were observed in the sampled period, brightest below 3,000 ft.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Saunders Beach properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 239 analysed Saunders Beach properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 239 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Saunders Beach.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Saunders Beach
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 1 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 1,500 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.
Saunders Beach at a glance
Schools in and near Saunders Beach
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: 4.14 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 8.93 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 Saunders Beach address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Saunders Beach is zoned
Selling in Saunders Beach? 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 2.8 km², Saunders Beach is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 100% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 54% is flagged bushfire-prone. The dominant land-use zone is Conservation. The terrain is largely flat, and the median lot measures about 607 m² across 236 parcels.
Recent development applications in Saunders Beach
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
Latest included submission: 1 October 2026.
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 Saunders Beach
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Saunders Beach 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 923, and decile 3 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Saunders Beach's 385 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Northern Beaches, the wider ABS statistical area containing Saunders Beach. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Saunders Beach 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.
Saunders Beach data sources and coverage
“Not mapped” means we hold no source layer for this suburb - never an all-clear.
| Dataset | Coverage | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Flood mapping | 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 Saunders Beach 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 100% of Saunders Beach. 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 Saunders Beach. 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 Saunders Beach lot.
Saunders Beach planning - frequently asked
Is Saunders Beach flood-prone?
About 100% of Saunders Beach falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 57%. Across the suburb, 0% of the 239 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk. Published flood models are held over parts of Saunders Beach; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Saunders Beach bushfire-prone?
Around 54% of Saunders Beach is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Townsville City average of 50%.
Is Saunders Beach under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Saunders Beach, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 7 Nov 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 1,500 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 3 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 Saunders Beach?
The dominant planning zone in Saunders Beach is Conservation, though the suburb also includes Low Density Residential and Open Space.
Does Saunders Beach have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Saunders Beach.
Is Saunders Beach hilly or flat?
Saunders Beach is largely flat: the median ground slope is about 2%. Ground level runs from roughly 2 m to 5 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Saunders Beach?
Across 236 surveyed parcels in Saunders Beach, the median lot size is about 607 m². There are also 13 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Saunders Beach?
At the 2021 Census Saunders Beach had 385 usual residents, with a median age of 49 and an average household size of 2.2 people. The wider Northern Beaches statistical area, which contains Saunders Beach, went from 5,363 people in 2001 to 7,196 in 2025, up 34%.
Is Saunders Beach an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Saunders Beach scores 923 and sits in decile 2 of 10 nationally and decile 3 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Saunders Beach?
Median household income in Saunders Beach was $1,483 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,510 for the typical suburb in Townsville City. Median rent was $320 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,400 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toolakea | 1.8 km | 100% | 55% |
| Yabulu | 4.6 km | 73% | 46% |
| Bluewater | 6.3 km | 52% | 88% |
| Beach Holm | 7.0 km | 98% | 31% |
| Bushland Beach | 8.8 km | 89% | 37% |
| Mount Low | 9.7 km | 90% | 30% |
| Jensen | 11.0 km | 74% | 40% |
| Black River | 11.0 km | 27% | 45% |
| Deeragun | 11.7 km | 72% | 44% |
| Burdell | 12.3 km | 97% | 36% |