Cape Flats 2022

Gatesville, Athlone, is earmarked for a key invention

Bronwynne Jooste

METRO WRITER

OVER the next decade, Cape Town’s landscape will be transformed to connect all the big suburbs and develop economic hubs across all areas, while coastlines and wetlands will be marketed as key tourism destinations.

These are some of the goals of the proposed 10-year plans guiding development in areas across the Cape Flats, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Blue Downs, Delft and Bellville.

The plans were approved yesterday by the city’s economic, environment and spatial planning committee. They will now go to full council for approval.

The idea is to link residents to economic activity, increase private sector investment and promote the city’s natural assets.

Belinda Walker, mayoral committee member for economic, environment and spatial planning, said many plans were already framed along this “mindset”, and “this is a guide for developers, officials and politicians”.

Walker said the idea was to ensure residents had easy access to all parts of Cape Town.

“We want people to move around easily. There will be areas with lots of activity, there will be quiet residential nodes and there will be mixed areas. We want to increase density and make sure people stuck on the edge of the city, through no fault of their own, can get back into the middle.”

In Athlone, the plan calls for “key invention”, including upgrading public areas. The CBD and Gugulethu will be positioned as business hubs.

There will be more housing developments in Rondebosch, and higher dwellings closer to Kromboom road.

This all falls under the Cape Flats district. There will more mixed development along Lansdowne Road, as well as on a section between Jan Smuts and Vanguard Drive.

Lansdowne Road is prominent also because it fits into the planned Wetton Road-Lansdowne Road corridor, which will have several mixed-use developments.

Houses will be built in Ottery, Wetton and Pelican Park, and flats and businesses could go up on an unused part of the Youngsfield military base.

One of the green anchors that will dot the landscape, Nantes park in Athlone is currently getting a multimillion-rand upgrade.

For tourism, Strandfontein will be marketed as the “coastal jewel”, since its beach makes it ripe for development of recreational areas along the coast. More private sector investment in neighbouring areas is the hoped-for spin-off.

On job creation in the area, the focus includes establishing economic hubs at several public transport interchanges. Some sites are the Mitchells Plain town centre and Nolungile station.

Land near the Khayelitsha CBD is also available for proposed mixed use development, while Blue Downs is in line for more community facilities.

In the Tygerberg District, the Cape Town International Airport will continue growing as a “commercial and industrial hub”, becoming a major employer for residents. In Delft, council-own land along the main road will be used for markets and other informal trade.

The plan for this area also maps out a road link between the Durban and Modderdam roads. This will support the increase in homes and businesses projected for that area. Mixed used developments will also line Voortrekker road, spilling onto Strand and Van Riebeeck roads.

All the plans will be linked with public transport routes, working closely with the Integrated Rapid Transit expansion.

The city first started working on the plans in 2008. There was widespread public participation, resulting in these final drafts. They all fall under the Cape Town Spatial Development Framework.

This framework replaced outdated town plans earlier this year.

bronwynne.jooste@inl.co.za