Talk starts to relocate residents from areas that flood regularly Grantham resident Bill Jones relocated his bungalow to a new estate by Lockyer Valley Regional Council after the January 2011 floods. THE Federal Government is prepared to consider funding for the relocation of communities devastated by flooding for the second time in as many years. Minister Assisting the Queensland Flood Recovery Joe Ludwig said the relocation of Grantham cost a "significant amount of money," but was necessary to provide better protection for the residents. "We did that, we sat down around the table and worked out how to support the community of Grantham," said Senator Ludwig. Scenic Rim Regional Mayor Steve Jones said had Grantham not been relocated, the council would be looking at a $20 or $30 million bill for flood damage this year. Instead they expected damage to the Grantham area to total about $20,000. Elsewhere in the Lockyer Valley, where more than 500 properties were inundated during the latest flooding - including about 100 in the town of Laidley - Cr Jones said land swaps would be back on the agenda, after some communities were hit for the second time in as many years. "In places like Laidley, we will have to have a serious look to see if there's any possibility we can do that," he said. Cr Jones said the successful land swap initiated in Grantham in 2011 at a cost of about $18 million proved such schemes could work. Owners of low-lying properties in Grantham and surrounds were offered part of a 120-lot land parcel on higher ground - purchased by council after the disaster - in exchange for their original flood-prone blocks. Cr Jones said he would encourage places like North Burnett, Bundaberg and Rockhampton to look closely at the Grantham model. "At the end of the day do you want to pay $50 million to fix (up the community) or $50,000 ?" he said. In flood-ravaged Bundaberg, Mayor Mal Forman said he would prefer residents hit by the flood to rebuild on higher ground as authorities consider relocating hundreds of people. "That would be my preference," he said. But we still have to talk with people, we have to see what they want to do and we have to be accommodating to their wishes to a degree as well. But Cr Forman said the council might have to look for private land. "There might be a few pieces of land the Government may own but we need to discuss that with them," he said. It could be anything between 200-500 homes but we need to find enough land to do that. He said the council would seek both state and federal assistance. Bundaberg-based federal MP Paul Neville said parts of his hometown should be abandoned. Parts of North Bundaberg were too prone to flooding and residents should not be allowed to move back there, he told the joint Liberal and National party room meeting in Canberra. It would be folly to let people go back in some cases to where they were in some parts of north Bundaberg which had been under water three times in the last two years. Additional reporting by Thomas Chamberlin and Steven Scott