‘No space for Paarl to grow’
2005-08-18
Anne Kruger
PAARL only has sufficient land left for the next two years - after that all development will halt.
That was the opinion of members of the public who attended a meeting to discuss the draft Spatial Development Framework for the Paarl area recently.
At the meeting, Paarl residents expressed their disappointment at the lack of innovative proposals to address the shortage of housing and land for development in Paarl.
The draft, prepared by Macroplan Town Planners, stresses the importance of ecological conservation of pristine mountain areas and assets like the Berg River. Thus farms should be retained as buffers between urban areas and mountain areas.
Priorities, however, also include promotion of housing development and economic growth, in line with the Integrated Development Plan.
The waiting list of local families for subsidised housing currently stands at 26 000, for which at least 500 hectares of land is required (doubling the current size of Paarl).
The draft recommends that higher density housing be provided, with more rowhouses and blocks of flats, instead of single residential development in the subsidised housing sector.
More housing units for rental should be considered and infill development should be undertaken within the existing urban area.
Low cost housing should be available near the economic hubs of towns, to cut down on transport costs for workers and to improve their economic base by giving them access to land with higher future value.
According to the draft framework, the only development option for Paarl is south of the N1, where the agriculture land is of a poorer quality, or alternatively in the vicintiy of Windmeul.
However these issues need further investigation and assessment. The priority is for infill and integrated development within the current urban areas.
An agriculturally related development corridor linking Ben Bernhard estate along the Old Paarl Road, to Klapmuts, is also envisaged.
One of the Paarlites at the meeting, Jan Hanekom (a private town planner), expressed his disappointment in the limited proposals in the plan.
“The land earmarked for development is land which is known to be available - there is no strategy for new directions in which Paarl can develop.
“Even an obvious direction for expansion, the area between Klein Parys and the N1, has not been mentioned.
“Nor are there sufficient proposals for agri-villages or new economic nodes.
“There are no real proposals for an expansion of the urban fringe to alleviate Paarl’s development limitations.
“Expanding the urban edge does not mean that farming activities cannot continue in the urban area.”
“Why did the consultants not invite all landowners with development proposals to come forward?
“If the framework does not allow for expansion, there can be no development in Paarl - everything will come to a halt.”
In reply, consultant Dupré Lombaard of Enviro Dinamik indicated that the provincial guidelines for spatial development were “problematic” and limited the draft proposals.
Province was not in favour of “gentlemen’s estates” in rural areas and favoured low densities in such developments.
Another member of the public, Francis Graves, raised concern over the slow rate at which the municipal planning department operates.
“Fast-track procedures are required to speed up development, but does the Municipality have the capacity to meet the need?” she asked.
A farmer, Eddie Redelinghuys, asked whether Paarl was to be “smothered” by the ban on development of farms around Paarl
Mountain.
“Surely looking southward is not the only option for Paarl - there are development possibilities northwards towards Windmeul as well.”
The plan will be available in local libraries for comment for a month as soon as it has been submitted to Council (probably next week). Comments can be sent to the Drakenstein Municipal Manager, PO Box 1, Main Street, Paarl, 7622.
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