Lara flood map & planning overlays
Lara: 19,014 people and 32 flights a day, 2nd in Greater Geelong for both.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Lara
(Greater Geelong, VIC) - 89.47 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
89.47 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Lara's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Amber hatching is the published aircraft noise (ANEF) contour. 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 Lara
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
3% 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 at ANEF 30 and above is generally unacceptable for new houses and most noise-sensitive uses. The contour is a forecast, not a measurement at any one house.
Contours held
- vic_avalon_airport_anef
Observed overflight - sampled 4 Sep to 24 Oct 2026
typical observed square 1 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 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.
Lara at a glance
How Lara is zoned
Selling in Lara? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 89.47 km², Lara is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 24% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 89% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 39 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ). The median lot measures about 562 m² across 11,467 parcels.
Who lives in Lara
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Lara 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 992, and decile 5 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Lara's 19,014 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Lara, the wider ABS statistical area containing Lara. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Lara itself.
13,075 in 2001 to 23,952 in 2025, up 83%.
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.
Lara 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) | Inside a held contour | 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 Lara 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 80% of Lara. 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 Lara lot.
Lara planning - frequently asked
Is Lara flood-prone?
About 24% of Lara falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 18%.
Is Lara bushfire-prone?
Around 89% of Lara is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Greater Geelong average of 50%.
Is Lara affected by aircraft noise?
About 3% of Lara sits inside a published aircraft noise contour, and the highest contour present is ANEF 30 - 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 Lara under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 80% of Lara, and over about 92% 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 2,000 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 32 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 Lara?
The dominant planning zone in Lara is Farming Zone (FZ), though the suburb also includes Rural Living Zone (RLZ) and General Residential Zone (GRZ1).
Does Lara have heritage-listed places?
Lara has 39 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Lara?
Across 11,467 surveyed parcels in Lara, the median lot size is about 562 m². There are also 4,801 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Lara have a train station?
Yes - Lara has 1 train station: Lara Station. It is also served by 60 bus stops.
What is the population of Lara?
At the 2021 Census Lara had 19,014 usual residents, with a median age of 37 and an average household size of 2.7 people. The wider Lara statistical area, which contains Lara, went from 13,075 people in 2001 to 23,952 in 2025, up 83%.
Is Lara an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Lara scores 992 and sits in decile 6 of 10 nationally and decile 5 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Lara?
Median household income in Lara was $1,969 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,670 for the typical suburb in Greater Geelong. Median rent was $370 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,733 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avalon | 5.2 km | 28% | 71% |
| Corio | 7.0 km | 13% | 32% |
| Lovely Banks | 8.3 km | 2% | 97% |
| North Shore | 9.9 km | 3% | 0% |
| Little River | 10.1 km | 11% | 100% |
| Norlane | 10.3 km | 4% | 5% |
| Point Wilson | 10.4 km | 61% | 29% |
| Moorabool | 11.6 km | 11% | 100% |
| Bell Park | 12.2 km | 22% | 7% |
| Bell Post Hill | 12.3 km | 5% | 57% |