Table View residents challenge Milnerton flats development on school land
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Civil engineering work has started on an approved Milnerton development of 377 flats, nine group houses and 16 single-residential erven on land residents say was earmarked for schools.
Civil engineering work has begun on a Milnerton development approved for 377 flats, nine group houses and 16 single-residential erven on Erf 38599 in Canary Crescent, despite years of objections from residents who say the land was earmarked for schools. The Greater Table View Action Forum (GTAF) continues to challenge the project and has raised concerns about the site's safety and the planning approvals behind it.
Cape Town deputy mayor and mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment Eddie Andrews confirmed that a land use application for the rezoning and subdivision of the erf was approved in May 2023, comprising flats not exceeding 100 square metres each, nine group houses and 16 Single Residential 1 erven. He said three rounds of public participation were held in July 2020, August 2020 and October 2021, and that both the applicant and objectors addressed the municipal planning tribunal on 5 July 2022.
According to Andrews, the tribunal approved the application after considering all submissions, and the objectors' appeal was dismissed by the appeal authority on 8 May 2023, affirming the decision. He said numerous factors were evaluated in the approval, including traffic and environmental impacts, and that the city's engineering departments have approved the drawings for the civil works now under way.
Andrews added that site activities do not trigger the National Building Regulations, so the community was given contact details for the Department of Employment and Labour to report complaints under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and that an environmental control officer has been appointed to monitor compliance with environmental conditions. The department acknowledged a query about its role but had not responded.
GTAF says the land once earmarked for two schools was sold at a fraction of its market value, and it was previously reported that the site was transferred by the national Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to the Flandorp Family Property Trust to settle a land restitution claim. The forum said the city had confirmed that the full plans have not been approved, that hundreds of objections were ignored, and that both the provincial and metro governments had favoured developers' profits over schooling in the area.