News from Residents’
Association of
rahb@houtbay.org.za
www.houtbay.org.za
February
2009
Destruction
of Wetland adjacent to Beach Club
Alert by
On the 19th
of January the RAHB were informed by a local resident that a tractor had been
slashing reeds adjacent to the Beach Club and requested the Association to
investigate.
“A substantial area of the ecologically sensitive wetlands next to this contentious
development has also been driven on by heavy machinery, the vegetation being
slashed or damaged. A number of trees were also destroyed.”
The RAHB immediately notified Environmental and Heritage Resource
Management Southern Region of the activity.
Formal letter of complaint
The following day the RAHB submitted a formal letter
of complaint to
Report
by Dr J O’Riain
On the 21st of January, Dr Riain
submitted a further report to Mr Greenwood. Quoted in full below:
Re. Destruction of wetland habitat on City of
Report compiled by Dr
M. Justin O’Riain: Ward Forum representative for the Environment (Ward 74) and
Residents Association of
Historical perspective:
Beach Club developer Mr Don Hemphill has for the
second time in as many years destroyed vegetation associated with the wetland
adjacent to the Hout Bay river (Western bank) and
immediately below Princess Drive. In
late 2007 Mr Hemphill was ordered to cease works by Miss Natalie Newman a city
official from the Environmental
and Heritage Resource Management section (Southern section). The cease works order was on account of the
indiscriminate clearing of indigenous and alien vegetation within a wetland
area using chainsaws. In addition the
cease works requested that Mr Hemphill immediately stop the illegal infilling
of the wetland with beach sand that had been removed from within the estate and
was being systematically dumped into the south western
section of the wetland in direct contravention of the NEMA regulations.
Conservation and
recreational status of the wetland area affected:
This
wetland is unique in
Sections
of this wetland have previously been rehabilitated by the City of Cape Town and
are currently being maintained by the Hout Bay and Llandudno Heritage Trust. Together these organisations have ensured
that a unique wetland area within
It is my
contention that the developers of the Beach Club, more specifically Mr Don
Hemphill has repeatedly degraded the integrity and functioning of this wetland
ecosystem through the wanton destruction of the associated vegetation using a
combination of inappropriate mechanical clearing devices (Chainsaws and grass
cutters). I thus respectfully request
that the City of
Request to DEA & DP to fulfill statutory
responsibility
On the 26th of January Len Swimmer submitted a further letter
to DEA & DP urgently requesting them to fulfil their statutory duties as
regards S28 of NEMA.
“After
the recent numerous exasperating and desperate phone calls to your offices by
our Dr Justin O’Riain appealing for assistance in this matter, with no result -
and our letters dated 28th and 29th October 2008, to
which we still await your responses to the application of the Beach Club erf
1530 and more particularly erf 7743, we have taken legal advice from our Senior
Counsel who advises us that we have no alternative but to take the following
course of action outlined below.
We thus
hereby advise you that this Association demands that the DEA&DP immediately
exercise their powers in terms of s 28 of NEMA. We further point out that if
DEA&DP fails to do so urgently, we will have no other choice but to apply
to court as a matter of urgency for an order interdicting the unlawful activity
and directing DEADP to fulfil its statutory responsibilities.
In order
to avoid the above consequences, we urge you now to take the appropriate actions
in terms of s28 of NEMA and prevent further destruction to the Wetland (already
much destroyed by infill) by allowing the Developer carte blanche to do as he
wishes on these properties.”
On the 27th
January at 07:22, RAHB received the following e-mail from:
Eldon van Boom
Department of Environmental Affairs and Development
Planning
Directorate: Integrated Environmental Management,
Region B1 Private Bag X9086, CAPE TOWN, 8000 Rm U10-05, 10th Floor, Utilitas
Building, 1 Dorp Street, Cape Town
Tel: (021) 483 2877
Fax: (021) 483 4372
“Please be
advised that this Department did take action and that we issued a S28 directive
yesterday afternoon for activities at the beach club, i.e. to cease activities
until they have provided us with the necessary information as this department
requested in correspondence to them last week.”
Importance of public input
Penny Brown (RAHB
Exco) who recently attended a 3 day pilot course at WESSA on EIAs
(Understanding Environmental Impact Assessment: Contributing to Sustainable
Development and Decision Making) pointed out the importance of public input.
She feels that an Environmental Management Framework (EMF) or Strategic
Environmental Assessment (SEA) is desperately needed for the whole beach and
dune area.
The RAHB has
requested an EMF for this area and the Sub-Council has approved it in theory
and sent it on to another committee for further approval and implementation -
and it seems to have got stuck there.
Penny Brown writes “It
is vitally important that an EMF (or SEA) is conducted sooner rather than later
particularly as this is a very environmentally sensitive area, subject to very
negative impacts if ad hoc development is allow to proceed piecemeal. By default, this is what could happen if an
intervention is not made fairly urgently.”
The Sentinel for
10.9 ha of the Sentinel Mountain have
been put on the market for R12m. The
marketing of this piece of real estate refers to the surrounding area being
serviced by local and other relevant authorities. The RAHB assumes this to be the Hangberg
area, where service provision is notoriously bad and a section of the mountain
that is occupied by informal housing with no service provision..
While the land may have 270º sea views and
as Rainer Kloos the agent says “ Surrounded by the Table Mountain National Park
and an informal settlement, Hout Bay and The Sentinel in particular offer
buyers numerous lifestyle benefits.”
Having seen the relative prices of
Hughenden properties adjacent to the Dontse Yakhe informal settlement in IY not
keep pace with many other parts of
While
Rainer Kloos refers to the “river that
runs through the valley” as an attraction, yet we know the river is polluted by
run off and effluent
and health warning signs have had to be erected. On top of this the recent destruction of the
adjacent wetland by developers has had a huge negative environmental impact.
Formal objection to the Filming in Longkloof
Wetland,
A permit for filming in
the floodplain wetland area above Longkloog Weir is under consideration. On the
22nd of January, the RAHB submitted an objection to the Film Permit
Office, City of
The Association submitted that the City of
The amount of revenue it would generate to
the City of
Land Use Abuse in Residential Area
Erf 666, Hout Bay
Main Road, next to Bay Mews & opposite the Shell garage - we are informed
by adjacent residents that the continuous abuse by dumping of rocks and sand on
this once pristine wetland goes on unabated, even though the application for a
temporary departure of land use in this residential area was refused by
Subcouncil Good Hope, over a year ago.
RAHB have supported
the formal complaints made by the Bay View residents (who also sent photographs
of the unlawful activities) to Mr Emil Schnackenberg, SPA Plumstead telephone:
(021 710 8259 Fax:
021 710 8283)
Crime Warning
All NW members and
other community members must take note of the latest modus operandi by
criminals:
Criminals are
blocking roads with stones. As the driver gets out the vehicle to remove
the stones, criminals jump out of nearby bushes etc to commit their crimes.
Recently there was an
armed robbery in Hughenden road where a woman nearly lost her life. A short while later a
similar method was used, but the motorist luckily turned around and reported it
to the police.
A similar method
was used on Ou kaapse Weg near Fish Hoek.
I wish to urge
motorists NOT to stop at all. Lock the vehicle doors, turn around
and report it.
DO NOT try to solve
the matter yourself. Report it to SAPS on 10111
Thank you.
Capt Gerhard van den Bergh
Head: Visible Policing
Noise pollution
Following the report
in last month’s Hout and About regarding the legal
procedures to follow for reporting noise disturbance, the Association received
a letter of thanks from a new resident in the Valley. Hopefully with an ongoing submission of legal
complaints by residents, the noise pollution problem will be addressed by the
authorities.
“We moved into our new home at the beginning of March
2008 but very soon discovered that sleeping over weekends would be reserved
only for the very hard of hearing.
I have phoned Watchcom and the Police many a time and
I must say that they have both been fairly helpful although the Police say
there is little they can do to shut up the non-stop, all weekend parties coming
from the township weekend after weekend. They say that as they shut the one up
the next one goes louder. Christmas night was by far the worst. We finally
got some sleep after 4 in the morning! Ridiculous as far as I
am concerned.
The noise really hits the valley very hard! Had we
only known!
I was so
relieved to read that other residents are also complaining. I have been told
that a few guest houses complain as their guests get no sleep. Something that
must be affecting
business!!
Beach fireworks
The RAHB submitted a request that
Councillor JP Smith, Chairperson of the Safety &
Security Portfolio Committee responded,
“I have
arranged for the Safety and Security Portfolio Committee to go over this list
soon and decide how we set about the public engagement process to determine
what sites people are allowed to use.”
A resident recently requested the Association to give
any update it may have on the status of
When the Association last enquired in the middle of
January Entinleni said they were still
waiting on a go-ahead and were non committal as to when the road may be
re-opened.
Len Swimmer then spoke to Mr Nick Meyer, spokesperson
for the Concessionaire in
(R50 per couple, R30 per individual)
Forms from
Chairperson or Library. Association’s Banking Details:
FNB,
Subscriptions may be paid electronically (please use
your full name as a reference on the payment – to ensure that we correctly
credit your membership as this information appears on our Bank Statement
If you prefer, payment may also
be dropped into our wooden box at the Library (next to the Hall doors) or
posted to our Post Office Box: 27031
Chairperson,
Residents’ Assoc of
Tel:
790-0268, Email: