Stratford flood map & planning overlays
69% bushfire-mapped, 2nd-highest in Cairns Regional, plus a neighbourhood character area and flight noise.
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A planning-constraint profile of Stratford
(Cairns Regional, QLD) - 1.92 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 5 November 2026.
Constraint readout
1.92 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Stratford's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Amber hatching is the published aircraft noise (ANEF) contour.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Stratford properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 671 analysed Stratford properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 671 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Stratford.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Stratford
The ANEF contour is a published planning forecast and observed overflight is what a sampled tracking feed recorded - neither describes any individual property.
Inside an aircraft noise contour
26% of the suburb's land sits inside a published ANEF or airport-environs contour. Contours vary street by street, so whether a particular lot is inside one needs a property-level check.
Highest contour present
Under AS 2021, land between ANEF 25 and 30 is generally unacceptable for new houses; 20 to 25 is conditionally acceptable with noise attenuation. The contour is a forecast, not a measurement at any one house.
Contours held
- Cairns Regional Council ANEF
Observed overflight - sampled to
Night movements: not established - night is sampled as often as day, but too few night flights have been seen here to conclude either way.
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.
Stratford at a glance
Schools in and near Stratford
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: 0.93 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 1.60 km from the suburb boundary
Source: Queensland Government school geographic information. Catchment boundaries can divide a suburb and change over time; use the official catchment finder for a specific address.
How Stratford is zoned
Selling in Stratford? 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 1.92 km², Stratford is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 42% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 69% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 6 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Conservation. The terrain is gently undulating, and the median lot measures about 810 m² across 667 parcels.
Who lives in Stratford
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Stratford 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 1045, and decile 9 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Stratford's 1,198 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Freshwater - Stratford, the wider ABS statistical area containing Stratford. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Stratford itself.
3,365 in 2001 to 3,856 in 2025, up 15%.
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.
Stratford 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) | Inside a held contour | 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 |
Profile last materially updated 5 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 Stratford 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 →Published flood models are held over parts of Stratford. 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).
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Stratford lot.
Stratford planning - frequently asked
Is Stratford flood-prone?
About 42% of Stratford falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 55%. Across the suburb, 12% of the 671 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 81 rated high risk or historically affected. Published flood models are held over parts of Stratford; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Stratford bushfire-prone?
Around 69% of Stratford is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Cairns Regional average of 23%.
Is Stratford affected by aircraft noise?
About 26% of Stratford sits inside a published aircraft noise contour, and the highest contour present is ANEF 25 - under AS 2021, land above ANEF 25 is generally considered unacceptable for new houses, and 20-25 conditionally acceptable with noise attenuation. ANEF contours are forecasts published per airport and used to control noise-sensitive development; they are not a measurement at any one house, and a property can sit under a flight path and outside every contour.
Is Stratford under a flight path?
No aircraft were observed over Stratford in the period sampled (recent weeks to now). Sampling is intermittent, so that is a floor rather than proof that none fly over. 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 Stratford?
The dominant planning zone in Stratford is Conservation, though the suburb also includes Low Density Residential and Medium Impact Industry.
Does Stratford have heritage-listed places?
Stratford has 6 heritage-listed places on record.
Is Stratford hilly or flat?
Stratford is gently undulating: the median ground slope is about 6%, and 26% of measured points sit on grades of 15% or steeper. Ground level runs from roughly 4 m to 59 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Stratford?
Across 667 surveyed parcels in Stratford, the median lot size is about 810 m². There are also 88 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Stratford have a train station?
There is no train station inside Stratford itself. The suburb is served by 9 bus stops.
What is the population of Stratford?
At the 2021 Census Stratford had 1,198 usual residents, with a median age of 41 and an average household size of 2.4 people. The wider Freshwater - Stratford statistical area, which contains Stratford, went from 3,365 people in 2001 to 3,856 in 2025, up 15%.
Is Stratford an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Stratford scores 1045 and sits in decile 9 of 10 nationally and decile 9 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Stratford?
Median household income in Stratford was $1,793 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,618 for the typical suburb in Cairns Regional. Median rent was $345 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,700 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freshwater | 1.6 km | 32% | 39% |
| Whitfield | 2.0 km | 23% | 31% |
| Barron | 2.3 km | 100% | 6% |
| Brinsmead | 2.8 km | 35% | 18% |
| Edge Hill | 3.0 km | 65% | 23% |
| Kamerunga | 3.2 km | 73% | 39% |
| Machans Beach | 3.7 km | 68% | 20% |
| Aeroglen | 3.8 km | 74% | 10% |
| Manoora | 4.4 km | 94% | 20% |
| Holloways Beach | 4.7 km | 81% | 15% |