The City of Cape Town has started its engagement process in Mitchell’s Plain to review the spatial development frameworks (SDFs) for the eight planning districts across Cape Town.
The planning districts are Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha and Greater Blue Downs; Table Bay; Blaauwberg; Southern; Northern; Cape Flats; Helderberg and Tygerberg.
The SDFs for the planning districts will be updated with the latest information about the state of
the population, their employment levels and income; the state of
the urban and natural environment and heritage; state of development; the supply of and demand
for housing; local economy;
property market; and current services and infrastructure in these districts.
At the public participation meetings City officials explain the process undertaken to prepare the SDFs, how the SDFs affect local developments and how residents can contribute to identifying the challenges, needs, and priorities insofar as they relate to planning on a local area level.
On Thursday November 14, the City of Cape Town’s spatial planning team gathered at Rocklands civic centre with about 20 residents to identify the issues, opportunities and ideas on how to improve the area for the better.
Nigel Titus, manager of the City’s district spatial planning office, said they were looking at the future of the different areas, including Mitchell’s Plain. “We will be updating what we already have in the plans. We also need to understand the challenges of the respective areas and how these developments should look,” he said.
Abu-Bakr Gamildien, an intern with the district planning department, said proposals would not be implemented overnight and could be phased in as an SDF is valid for 10 years.
He said the community had until the end of January 2020
to comment on the planning baseline and analysis report. By June 2021, they should submit a revised SDF to the district for approval, he said.
“The SDF is not meant to deal with social interventions and maintenance to name a few. Planned roads are to be built as well but this will only depend on the budget and finances, made available for this initiative. We need to understand what is happening in the area and identify trends,” said Mr Gamildien.
At the meeting on Thursday, the community had to prioritise the important issues and opportunities for the respective communities and what they could do about initiatives and plans already put in place, said Mr Gamildien.
The community received cards with issues they may experience in the area. They had to decide what happens often and seldom in the areas.They would then vote on the issues and prioritise the important ones, said Mr Titus.
Sub-council 12 chairperson, Solomon Philander, said it was important for people to participate in the SDF process. “There are things in our respective areas that may affect us. Things such as housing, parks, the industrial area also known as the hive, even an athletics track in our community need to be spoken of and we must think about a way forward on how these things can be improved in our respective areas,” he said.
Strandfontein Ratepayers’ Association member, Ephraim Stanfield, said the number of people at the meeting affected the process of the planning. He was notified about the meeting a week ago. “The exercises done on Thursday was important, being a part of the planning is important for each area,” he said.
Mr Titus said they hadinformed the community about the details of the meeting. “I don’t see it as a wasteful exercise as we did not want to cancel the evening especially for those who took time out to attend. This is a long process and we need as much input as we can get,” he said.
If you would like to comment on the SDF, email district.sdf@capetown.gov.za or visit http://bit.do/SDFReview for more information.