Cottles Bridge flood map & planning overlays
Cottles Bridge matches Arthurs Creek at joint 52, on 7 ha lots.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Cottles Bridge
(Nillumbik, VIC) - 18.4 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
18.4 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Cottles Bridge'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
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Cottles Bridge
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 24 Oct 2026
typical observed square 1 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 4,000 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.
Cottles Bridge at a glance
How Cottles Bridge is zoned
Selling in Cottles Bridge? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 18.4 km², Cottles Bridge is highly constrained by planning overlays. Flood mapping covers the suburb and none of it falls within a mapped flood overlay, and 100% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 11 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Rural Conservation Zone (RCZ3). The median lot measures about 66,551 m² across 271 parcels.
Who lives in Cottles Bridge
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Cottles Bridge 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 1086, and decile 10 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Cottles Bridge's 609 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Panton Hill - St Andrews, the wider ABS statistical area containing Cottles Bridge. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Cottles Bridge itself.
5,103 in 2001 to 5,130 in 2025, up 1%.
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.
Cottles Bridge 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 | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Bushfire-prone mapping | Mapped | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Zoning | Mapped | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Heritage and environment | Mapped where published | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services |
| Aircraft noise contours (ANEF) | Not held | Vicmap Planning and Victorian Government spatial services, Defence |
| Observed flight paths | Observed | adsb.lol, under the Open Database License |
| Demographics | Available | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA) |
Profile last materially updated 24 October 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 Cottles Bridge 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 92% of Cottles Bridge. The report's Aircraft Overflight page narrows that to the address itself: how many aircraft a day, how low, and at what heights.
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Cottles Bridge lot.
Cottles Bridge planning - frequently asked
Is Cottles Bridge flood-prone?
Flood mapping covers Cottles Bridge and less than 1% of the suburb falls within a mapped flood overlay (the council-wide suburb average is 5%).
Is Cottles Bridge bushfire-prone?
Around 100% of Cottles Bridge is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Nillumbik average of 94%.
Is Cottles Bridge under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 92% of Cottles Bridge, and over about 98% at any altitude up to 10,000 ft, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 24 Oct 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 3,000 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 Cottles Bridge?
The dominant planning zone in Cottles Bridge is Rural Conservation Zone (RCZ3), though the suburb also includes Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ) and Transport Zone (TRZ2).
Does Cottles Bridge have heritage-listed places?
Cottles Bridge has 11 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Cottles Bridge?
Across 271 surveyed parcels in Cottles Bridge, the median lot size is about 66,551 m². There are also 286 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Cottles Bridge?
At the 2021 Census Cottles Bridge had 609 usual residents, with a median age of 52 and an average household size of 2.7 people. The wider Panton Hill - St Andrews statistical area, which contains Cottles Bridge, went from 5,103 people in 2001 to 5,130 in 2025, up 1%.
Is Cottles Bridge an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Cottles Bridge scores 1086 and sits in decile 10 of 10 nationally and decile 10 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Cottles Bridge?
Median household income in Cottles Bridge was $2,170 a week at the 2021 Census, against $2,391 for the typical suburb in Nillumbik. Median rent was $260 a week and the median mortgage repayment $2,524 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nutfield | 3.1 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| Hurstbridge | 4.1 km | 5% | 100% |
| Panton Hill | 4.5 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| Arthurs Creek | 4.5 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| St Andrews | 6.6 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| Smiths Gully | 6.6 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| Doreen | 7.1 km | 2% | 68% |
| Watsons Creek | 7.3 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| Wattle Glen | 7.6 km | 7% | 99% |
| Yarrambat | 8.1 km | 1% | 100% |