MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICHARDT) – Council's proposed plan to sell off sections of the municipal sportsgrounds for the establishing of a regional shopping centre, was met with severe criticism by members of the local business community on Friday (20th).

The criticism was voiced during a meeting called by Council to listen to objections regarding the proposed rezoning and development of sections of the town's municipal sportsgrounds.

Acting on behalf of some eighty members of the local business community, Mr Adriaan Venter from Roestoff Venter & Kruse in Hatfield, literally had a field day in taking apart the procedure followed by Council in advertising their intentions, as well as their applications and motivation for taking such a decision. Mr Venter is an expert in the field of town planning and development. Mr Kerneels Kern from Kern & Dekker Attorneys had called in his expertise.

The meeting got off to a shaky start with Mr Venter pointing out that Council in fact had no application on the table, as they hadn't followed the correct procedure in advertising the application. He stated that Council had advertised the application in terms of the wrong section of the Town Planning and Township Ordinance and no application therefore existed. In addition, he added that not only was Council's "application" procedurally incorrect, but it was also fatally flawed due to the fact that it was in conflict with peremptory statutory provisions, did not comply with statutory prescribed prerequisites and jurisdictional facts, but was also incomplete and not even processable. At that stage, he requested the chairman of the meeting, Mr Reuben Rambado (Municipal Manager), to make a ruling on the validity of the application and to indicate whether or not the meeting should continue. The only ruling Mr Rambado was willing to make, however, was that the meeting should continue.

It was then time to listen to Mr Ben van der Schyff from Planning Concept Town & Regional Planners' presentation regarding the motivation for the proposed rezoning and development of sections of the sportsgrounds. Mr Van der Schyff was appointed by Council to act as their consultant.

In his motivational memorandum, Mr Van der Schyff highlighted several aspects in support of the application. He mentioned, amongst other things, that the local Council's Integrated Development Plan (IDP) supports such a development and that a need for such a development exists.

In response to this, Mr Venter was again well prepared to prove otherwise and referred to Mr Van der Schyff's motivational memorandum as a "panelbeated supplement".

Mr Venter pointed out that the application constitutes an application for a regional shopping centre in close proximity to the town's existing Central Business District (CBD), in direct competition with the latter and at the expense of open spaces, sports, recreational and community facilities.

Mr Venter said that, although Mr Van der Schyff categorically stated that the existing CBD is a regional centre, which is the most important node of the regional function, Mr Van der Schyff wants to justify a similar competing regional centre only "600m east" of the boundaries of the CBD. He added that due to the fact that this naïve reasoning is negated by any shopping centre policy, Mr Van der Schyff "miraculously" comes to the conclusion that the hierarchy of shopping centres policy does not apply in this particular case.

With regard to Mr Van der Schyff's argument that Council's IDP supports the application and that there is a need for such a development, Mr Venter said that the IDP in fact states the opposite. He said that Council's IDP document states that the local economy is very small when compared to other economies in the Limpopo Province and as such, it is extremely vulnerable to changes in the provincial economy. He further mentioned that the document states that the local economy has shown a growth rate of minus 3.1% between 1991 and 1997, whereas the Limpopo Province's growth rate was minus 3,4%. In view of this, Mr Venter said that Council's IDP document clearly shows no need, motivation or substantiation whatsoever in support of the application.

Mr Venter also mentioned, amongst other things, that despite the magnitude of the proposed development, Council had done no study with regard to the availability, retention and management of open spaces, no study whatsoever with regard to the protection, management, revitalization or strengthening of the existing CBD, no study with regard to traffic assessment, geometrical road planning or impact on either the CBD or the subject application, and no Environmental Impact study as required by law. He said it is clear from available documentation with regard to the application that no study whatsoever had been done to determine whether or not there is a need for an additional retail floor area. Mr Venter said that in view of the above it was clear that this endeavour by Council, apparently initiated by a few subjective and overly ambitious members of the community, was not supported by any existing policies, strategies or guidelines and that the positive consideration of this application would in any language constitute a total negation of the municipality's statutory developmental obligations. He also stated that the application was at best an artificial endeavour to circumvent the most basic planning principles pertaining to shopping centres and would upon approval in practice demolish the economic viability of the existing CBD and give rise to free-standing, unsustainable developments. This, he later added, will give rise to a reduction in property values, a reduction in rentals, vacant premises, slumps and ultimately a total collapse of assessment rate structures and income for the municipality.

Upon conclusion of his argument against the proposed development Mr Venter stated that he wanted to put it on record that he was concerned about Council's modus operandi. He said that he acted on behalf of sixteen local authorities and that no local authority should ever enter the commercial arena in competition with local businesses and role-players.

The meeting was attended by several other concerned citizens and representatives from organisations such as the Soutpansberg Chamber of Commerce. They all supported Mr Venter's arguments. So too did Mrs Marie Helm, local chairman of the Democratic Alliance. She warned that Council should look to the future and refrain from supporting unsustainable development for the short term.

The meeting was closed after a word from the mayor, Cllr Brighton Tlakula. Cllr Tlakula said that the Executive Committee would sit down and look at the submission and would also consult with their legal advisors on the matter. He said that Mr Venter had presented good arguments, but in the end it is Exco who must decide on the matter. He urged his administrators to take notice of the inputs made during the meeting and added that they were to check and re-check whether correct procedures were being followed. He concluded, however, that this did not necessarily mean that Council will be stopped, as it is up to Council to make the final decision.