Housing plan a bad idea

Elizabeth van Zijl, Parow

I have been reading and watching all the correspondence on the affordable housing plan for Olienhout Avenue in Plattekloof, and I can hardly believe the go-ahead was given (“Green light for land sale”, Northern News, May 3).

Development in the Western Cape has boomed, and green belts are so necessary for everyone to recharge after a hard day at the office.

This little green oasis is very popular for children, who are already closed in by dense housing. It’s a safe place for outings where you can feed the ducks, and it’s the only place of its kind in the Parow area.

Durbanville and Bellville have lots of parks and dams where you can relax, but Parow seems to be so neglected in that area.

I feel sorry for those who spent millions on their properties only to soon find themselves looking out on a gap-housing development.

Each area has its own calculation of municipal rates – how is this development going to affect these high-rate residents? Are they going to carry these gap-housing residents?

I think I have a solution for both parties: Acacia Park (for parliamentary staff and members of parliament) in Monte Vista is a very nice, open prime and central location for gap housing. This is the ideal open space.

Maybe somebody can lay this before the City’s Organisational Development and Transformation Plan committee. Roads, water and electricity connections are already installed, and, if I am not mistaken, there is a school as well.

Every day we see town planners and committees posing in the papers about their so-called achievements, but what about the water restrictions and the traffic congestion? Don’t they plan and think about the implications of their decisions?

Surely this gap development will only add to the water and traffic problems we already battle to cope with?