Members of the Philppi Horticultural Area (PHA) Food and Farming Campaign have expressed concerns over the proposed development on 479-hectares of “significant and fertile agricultural land,” which they believe could dry up the Cape Flats Aquifer and pose a threat to food security.
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The campaign is calling for the land, initially proposed for the Oakland City Development, which would include housing for 15 000 families as well as schools and commercial and industrial facilities, to be used for agriculture purposes.
The City of Cape Town initially applied to the Department of Agriculture in 2009 to change part of the land from “horticultural use” to “urban development.”
This application was, however, denied by the department before the city rezoned the area in its 2012 Spatial Development Framework.
The development site now falls within the urban edge of the greater PHA.
In February 2020, the Western Cape High Court ordered that proper public participation be done.
The court also ordered that MEC for Local Government Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, reconsider the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and give the public until 24 February 2021, to comment.
The new EIA report is due to be submitted to the MEC this week.
Speaking to GroundUp, PHA Campaign volunteer Susanna Coleman said the decision to give the development the go-ahead a few years ago needed to be reconsidered under current circumstances, as she expressed concerns that the development might result in a flurry of similar proposals in surrounding areas.
“We now know there is going to be less rainfall,” she said. “There are going to be more extreme climate events.”
PHA campaign chair and small-scale farmer, Nazeer Sonday, stated that the development could also dry up the aquifer and encroach on food farming space.
“It is ludicrous of [the developer] to claim that the impact of the development is actually going to be a good thing for the City,” said Sonday, adding that he was confident that Bredell would make the “right decision” when considering the public comments and EIA.
In response to GroundUp’s questions, Bredell’s spokesperson, Wouter Kriel, said that the minister “would” apply his mind to all the information before him in order to make a decision in this matter.
He added that should the development go ahead, it would “result in job creation and will address the shortage of housing opportunities.”
Yesterday, the City said it could not comment on the issue until it has had an opportunity to go through the EIA, which will first be considered by the provincial government.
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