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This is the first draft of a positive nature to address the many concerns we have around dilapidated buildings.
Please scrutinize and forward any comments you have to the Ward Councillor: CedricReginald.Thomas@capetown.gov.za or Gregory.Todd@capetown.gov.za.
The City is currently undertaking a public participation process as to the draft Animal By-Law.
You can comment on this By-Law in the following way:
A “hearing session” to give comment on the “Animal By-Law” will be held at the Sub-council 15 Meeting on Tuesday, 16 September 2008 in the Pinelands Training Centre, St Stephens Road in the Plover Room from 10:00.
Interested organisations & members of the public are to book a 10 to 15 minute time slot in advance by no later than Tuesday, 02 September 2008 with Gregg Todd at Tel: 021 531 3437 or Gregory.Todd@capetown.gov.za.
If you can’t make it to the meeting, send in your comment anyway to Gregory Todd.
Make your voice heard!!!
Although UWRA has set up a Woodstock Development Framework and residents in the area want to preserve the Heritage of Woodstock and the residential character of the area, we are continuously struggling with Council to enforce the rules and regulations, when these are contravened. See the Excite story for an example of this.
Council has now compiled a policy document with the aim to ensure that zoning and building regulations are adhered to throughout the city in the same way. The policy sets out what must be done by council officials should zoning and building regulations be broken.
UWRA welcomes the policy and the attempts by council to sort this matter out. However, we have one big concern, which we have brought to the attention of councillors and council officials on many occasions: the success of a policy like this depends heavily on the ability to enforce it.
At the moment Council is lacking this ability in a BIG way, simply because there is not enough staff to deal with contraventions. If Council is not going to employ more enforcement staff, this policy will fail and it might as well be thrown in the bin straight away.
Therefore UWRA again strongly urges the Council to appoint the appropriate numbers of enforcement staff. UWRA has submitted this comment to City Council.
The City of Cape Town has initiated several Social Housing projects all over the city.
There is sometimes a misconception about what Social Housing actually is. Maybe it is easiest to start by explaining what it is not. It is not RDP housing and it is not Council Rental Housing.
Social Housing is good quality, medium density rental housing in well-located, attractive and safe parts of the City. The projects are well-managed by Not-for-Profit Housing companies in partnership with the City of Cape Town. The housing is meant for households with an income of R 2000 - R 7500, who will be paying rent for the units and who want to live in areas with good access to transport and social and economic opportunities.
How does Social Housing affect Woodstock ? The City Council initiated 4 projects in the greater Woodstock area. Two of these are in Salt River : Pickwick Road and Salt River Market. The other two are in Upper Woodstock: Dillon Lane and Victoria Walk/Melbourne Road.
In a progress report of April 2008 it was stated that NO further work is being done on the Victoria Walk/Melbourne Road project. This area is a Public Open Space and City Council is quite serious about preserving the Public Open Spaces and so is UWRA and the surrounding community. UWRA has made this clear to Council in the Woodstock Development Framework.
The Dillon Lane project plans for the building of 60 units. The plans are in quite an advanced stage, but the land lease agreement between Council and the Housing Company still needs to be finalised. The start of the project is expected in March 2009 and the building work should then be finished by July 2009.
We attach the Progress Report here, so you can see exactly what is happening.
The state of the property at 51 Roodebloem Road and the (criminal) element hanging around it have been a great worry to the surrounding residents and UWRA. That’s why everybody was very happy when a few months ago a “SOLD” sign appeared on the property and we learned that the buyer was someone, who was interested in the community and heritage of Woodstock.
Unfortunately it has since come to our attention that there are problems with the sale and it might not go through. Therefore the property will continue to be a problem for our community. UWRA has sent the following letter to Sub-Council 15 and the Ward Councillor, Cedric Thomas:
“It is with deep concern that UWRA has learned that the pending sale of above property is no longer happening. This means that the present owners, Mr Termain Kyles (of 3 Salisbury Street, Woodstock) and Mr Alan Main, will continue to be the owners, which is a very bad situation for the immediate neighbours and the community at large.
UWRA and the community of Woodstock have brought the destruction of this property to the attention of the Council on several occasions. We are grateful that the City Health Department has twice cleaned the plot during the past year. We now would like to know what other action City Council has taken against the owners.
We would like to give you an overview of our complaints:
The property has been stripped completely over a period of months of all its valuable and historic assets, including all the woodwork, door and window frames, fireplaces, “broekie lace” fencing, etc. All that are left are the walls and the roof. The owners have let this destruction happen and have done nothing to stop it, which has obviously been a great loss to our area and our Heritage.
The property has been left standing as is by the owners and everybody and anybody has access to it. The property is used by drug users and drug dealers. Criminals use it to gain access to neighbouring properties. Antisocials use it for dumping purposes. The most serious incident has been the rape of a teenage boy.
On at least 3 occasions there were fires at the property and the fire department had to be called out. At least one of these fires has caused damage to the house immediately adjacent to it.
Vagrants have moved onto the property and are living there, which aggravates the health and crime situation.
As you can see, the situation is extremely serious. Appeals to the owners from community members have fallen on deaf ears. It seems that they are completely disinterested and they definitely have no consideration for the problems their property is causing our community.
We would like to appeal to City Council to take urgent action against the owners to force them either to restore the property or at least to secure the property, so that access to it no longer can be obtained by undesirable elements.
We await your urgent reply.”
UWRA will keep you informed of developments in this matter.
The City of Cape Town has sent UWRA a number of Draft By-laws and Policies for comment. As always we want you to be kept in the loop, so we attach this information here.
You might want to read about the City’s plans regarding Public Parks (who can use them and when?), Tourism Accommodation (do you want a camping or backpackers opening next door to you?) and Events. Maybe you want to comment.
Comments on these By-Laws and Policies can be given as follows:
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BY-LAWS |
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No. |
Subject |
Purpose |
Dates to submit written comments to Subcouncil |
Date to register to request a time slot to do oral Submission to Subcouncil 15 meeting |
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1 |
City’s Electricity By-Law |
For information and comments |
Wednesday, 28 May 2008 |
Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
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2 |
City of Cape Town Draft Integrated Waste Management By-Law |
For information and comments |
Friday, 30 May 2008 |
Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
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3
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Proposed City of Cape Town Public Parks By-Law |
For information and comments |
Friday, 30 May 2008 |
Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
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POLICIES |
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1 |
Coastal Development Guidelines for Cape Town |
For information and comments |
Wednesday, 21 May 2008 |
Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
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2 |
Tourism accommodation Policy for Cape Town |
For comments |
Friday, 23 May 2008 |
Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
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3 |
Street People Policy |
For information and comments |
Friday, 30 May 2008 |
Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
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4 |
City of Cape Town Events Policy |
For information and comments |
Friday, 30 May 2008 |
Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
Integrated Waste Management By Law Draft
Coastal Development Guidelines Report Draft
Woodstock is a unique and special area. The reasons why people are attracted to Woodstock are the ideal mix of city and suburban living; the mixed community and the sense of community; and of course the historic and Victorian character of the area.
Woodstock residents find that there is a constant threat from developers and City Council, who have not much regard for what Woodstock is all about. Woodstock is a heritage area and yet, historical facades and buildings are being destroyed. Undesirable businesses are allowed to operate from residential premises.
Therefore UWRA decided in 2007 to draw up a draft Development Framework to be submitted to Council. The principle of the Framework is that the residential and historic look and feel of Woodstock must be maintained, while encouraging revitalisation and development that supports the Woodstock community.
UWRA drew up a draft Framework which was e-mailed to the community so that residents could comment and make suggestions. UWRA then collated all responses and drew up a final Draft Development Framework which was submitted to Council by late 2007.
City Council is currently setting up a new Integrated Development Plan and UWRA is involved in this process. The aim is to make the Woodstock Development Framework part of the Integrated Development Plan.
