SAPRA had appealed the approval by Johannesburg City Council for the rezoning of Erfs 530 and 531, Parkwood. This appeal has now been concluded.
This is the site at 46 - 48 Bolton Road and is better known as Ashford House. The approved proposal contemplates the erection of a building of 10 storeys for mixed use.
The original application may be downloaded by clicking here.
SAPRA lodged an objection to the original application and a copy of this objection can be downloaded by clicking here. Notwithstanding this objection the City has approved the application and SAPRA have launched an appeal.
Copies of the appeal may be downloaded by clicking here.
The appeal was heard and SAPRA was notified on 6 June 2020 that the appeal was partially upheld. Copies of the letter from the City may be downloaded here. Craig Pretorius from Urban Terrain, SAPRA's Town Planning consultant, has summarised the decision which may be downloaded here.
Since June 2020, much internal SAPRA discussion and correspondence has taken place. This culminated in a further Municipal Planning Tribunal (MPT) hearing on 12 December 2023. At that meeting, SAPRA learnt that the proposed 10-storey building would include 6 padel courts and a clubhouse on the roof. The resolution reached was that the Application is approved (Click here) for a copy of CoJ's letter 5 February 2024).
Reasons for reaching this decision were requested from CoJ on 15 February 2024.
As no response from CoJ had been received by 1 March 2024, a Placeholder Appeal was sent to them.
Reasons for the rezoning were received from the Municipal Planning Tribunal (MPT) on 11 April 2024 and can be read by clicking here.
SAPRA responded to the reasons given by the MPT on 17 April 2024 and can be read by clicking here. Nothing further has been heard despite a follow up email on 29 April 2024 asking whether CoJ had received SAPRA's letter.
On 14th October SAPRA received the decision taken by the MCC Development Planning which can be read by clicking here. As this is the end of the road as far as dealing with the municipality is concerned and it is clear that our rights as citizens have been ignored, what more can we do?
1. Talk to the press and sensitize the media as to what is going on.
2. Tell the story to Carte Blanche (mystory@carteblanche.co.za)
3. Go the legal route (as is being done for Saxon Square).
Going the legal route would cost an estimated R200'000. SAPRA is asking for donations.
0.25% of the value of your house should be not too much to protect its value.
Payments should be made by the 7th December 2024, at the latest, to SAPRA (Standard bank Killarney, Account 001670190) indicating your name and marking it "HIVE". These donantions will be ring-fenced.
If the target is not reached by the 7th December, all donations will be returned. And the Hive will be built!
August 2025: Donations totalled R97’500. This is a long way short of the estimated cost of taking the case to finality. The lawyer has been informed that sufficient funds are not available, and the matter has to be dropped. All donors were informed and were asked whether their donation on a pro-rata basis should be returned to them or moved to the ring-fenced account for the Saxon Square fight, or left in the SAPRA general fund for potential use in the future.
Building operations stopped for a number of weeks. It was rumoured that this was due to rock being encountered during excavations. Blasting probably was not possible due to the Gautrain tunnel. A solution appears to have been found as building operations have restarted.
As far as SAPRA is concerned, this case can be closed, and we will have to live with this high-rise on Parkwood territory.