PROVINCIAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT FORUM

NOTES OF MEETING OF 11 FEBRUARY 2016

The forum discusses planning and environmental matters with Minister Bredell and DEA&DP, and explores ways of improving the approval processes. It meets quarterly under the chairmanship of Alwyn Laubscher. Apart from the Minister and representatives from DEA&DP, the following organisations are usually represented: International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA), South African Geomatics Institute (SAGI), South African Association of Professional Planners (SAACPP), South African Planning Institute (SAPI), South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA), Western Cape Property Development Forum (WCPDF) and SAICE.

For information: notes from the meeting of 11 February 2016:

  1. Minister Bredell– reflected on the very success of Johannesburg and Cape Town (and the Western Cape?) carrying the seeds of their own destruction. They are the “honeypots” and predicted population growth is expected to place them among the largest cities in the world, later in the century. There are also corridors or nodes in the Western Cape where things are happening, some of them unexplained. An associated concern is that municipalities are paying now for infrastructure that will last for many decades….
  1. Implementation of SPLUMAct (national planning legislation) and LUPA:

(a) All but two of the Western Cape municipalities are expected to be up and running by the end of April, the exceptions being Oudtshoorn and Kannaland.

(b) The by-laws are already being amended, taking into account what has been learned during implementation so far.

(c) DEA&DP are doing the rounds asking municipalities' permission to approach the national department asking that all be exempted from the five year limitation in section 43(2) of SPLUMA:

  1. Draft Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Bill: the volume of (negative) comment coming from all over the place seems to have sent the authors into a total redraft – not known when they will reappear.
  1. Western Cape Coastal Management Programme and Coastal Management Lines: interesting presentations were given on both of these. On the former: a lack of funding may present problems when trying to implement various elements of the programme. On the latter: existing rights preclude the setting of lines on a purely scientific basis, but insurance companies would probably do their own research and there are many instances where they would not insure properties or some parts of properties, even in theoretically safe zones – Beach Road in Strand was mentioned. Copy of the programme presentations available.
  1. Zoning Schemes, conversion from old to new: bound to present problems where existing property rights are affected.
  1. Water Use and Environmental Impact Assessment non-alignment: the problem remains.