Shelford flood map & planning overlays
Shelford is young for farm country, median 39, with 12 heritage places.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Shelford
(Golden Plains, VIC) - 178.25 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 24 October 2026.
Constraint readout
178.25 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Shelford'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 Shelford
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 0 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.
Shelford at a glance
How Shelford is zoned
Selling in Shelford? The zoning and planning overlays on this page are the controls a Section 32 vendor statement discloses.
Across its 178.25 km², Shelford is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 7% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay, and 100% is flagged bushfire-prone. There are 12 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Farming Zone (FZ). The median lot measures about 32,173 m² across 440 parcels.
Who lives in Shelford
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Shelford 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 975, and decile 4 within Victoria. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Shelford's 263 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Golden Plains - South, the wider ABS statistical area containing Shelford. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Shelford itself.
5,111 in 2001 to 8,954 in 2025, up 75%.
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.
Shelford 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 Shelford 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 45% of Shelford. 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 Shelford lot.
Shelford planning - frequently asked
Is Shelford flood-prone?
About 7% of Shelford falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 6%.
Is Shelford bushfire-prone?
Around 100% of Shelford is mapped as bushfire-prone, compared with a Golden Plains average of 100%.
Is Shelford under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 45% of Shelford, and over about 74% 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 1 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 Shelford?
The dominant planning zone in Shelford is Farming Zone (FZ), though the suburb also includes Transport Zone (TRZ2) and Low Density Residential Zone (LDRZ1).
Does Shelford have heritage-listed places?
Shelford has 12 heritage-listed places on record.
What is the typical lot size in Shelford?
Across 440 surveyed parcels in Shelford, the median lot size is about 32,173 m². There are also 122 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
What is the population of Shelford?
At the 2021 Census Shelford had 263 usual residents, with a median age of 39 and an average household size of 2.8 people. The wider Golden Plains - South statistical area, which contains Shelford, went from 5,111 people in 2001 to 8,954 in 2025, up 75%.
Is Shelford an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Shelford scores 975 and sits in decile 5 of 10 nationally and decile 4 within Victoria (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Shelford?
Median household income in Shelford was $1,778 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,748 for the typical suburb in Golden Plains. Median rent was $300 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,330 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bamganie | 8.4 km | 4% | 100% |
| Barunah Park | 10.1 km | 6% | 100% |
| Teesdale | 13.4 km | 5% | 100% |
| Hesse | 14.1 km | 8% | 100% |
| Mount Mercer | 14.5 km | <1% | 100% |
| Meredith | 14.6 km | 4% | 100% |
| Lethbridge | 15.1 km | 3% | 100% |
| Rokewood | 15.8 km | 5% | 100% |
| Barunah Plains Colac Otway |
16.2 km | 10% | 100% |
| Wingeel Colac Otway |
16.3 km | 13% | 100% |