Scotchmans Lead flood map & planning overlays
Scotchmans Lead keeps 9 heritage places on 15,685 m² farm 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 Scotchmans Lead
(Ballarat, VIC) - 4.3 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
4.3 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Scotchmans Lead'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 Scotchmans Lead
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
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.
Scotchmans Lead at a glance
How Scotchmans Lead is zoned
Selling in Scotchmans Lead? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 4.3 km², Scotchmans Lead is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 3% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 100% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 9 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ). The median lot measures about 15,685 m² across 137 parcels.
Who lives in Scotchmans Lead
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Scotchmans Lead 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 1003, and decile 6 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Scotchmans Lead's 105 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Buninyong, the wider ABS statistical area containing Scotchmans Lead. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Scotchmans Lead itself.
5,320 in 2001 to 7,384 in 2025, up 39%.
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.
Scotchmans Lead 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 Scotchmans Lead 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 6% of Scotchmans Lead. 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 Scotchmans Lead lot.
Scotchmans Lead planning - frequently asked
Is Scotchmans Lead flood-prone?
About 3% of Scotchmans Lead falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 8%.
Is Scotchmans Lead bushfire-prone?
Around 100% of Scotchmans Lead is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Ballarat average of 68%.
Is Scotchmans Lead under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 6% of Scotchmans Lead, and over about 42% 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 2,500 ft, with an average of 4,500 ft. 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 Scotchmans Lead?
The dominant planning zone in Scotchmans Lead is Farming Zone (FZ), though the suburb also includes Rural Living Zone (RLZ) and Public Park and Recreation Zone (PPRZ).
Does Scotchmans Lead have heritage-listed places?
Scotchmans Lead has 9 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Scotchmans Lead?
Across 137 surveyed parcels in Scotchmans Lead, the median lot size is about 15,685 m². There are also 14 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Scotchmans Lead?
At the 2021 Census Scotchmans Lead had 105 usual residents, with a median age of 50 and an average household size of 2.6 people. The wider Buninyong statistical area, which contains Scotchmans Lead, went from 5,320 people in 2001 to 7,384 in 2025, up 39%.
Is Scotchmans Lead an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Scotchmans Lead scores 1003 and sits in decile 6 of 10 nationally and decile 6 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Scotchmans Lead?
Median household income in Scotchmans Lead was $2,050 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,680 for the typical suburb in Ballarat.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magpie | 3.8 km | Not mapped | 100% |
| Cambrian Hill Golden Plains |
4.3 km | 4% | 100% |
| Buninyong | 4.5 km | <1% | 94% |
| Napoleons Golden Plains |
4.6 km | 10% | 100% |
| Durham Lead | 4.6 km | 5% | 100% |
| Mount Helen | 5.6 km | <1% | 100% |
| Garibaldi Golden Plains |
7.2 km | 18% | 100% |
| Sebastopol | 7.3 km | 3% | 45% |
| Mount Clear | 7.4 km | 2% | 98% |
| Bonshaw | 7.6 km | Not mapped | 77% |