In 1969, I bought a plot of land in the middle of Hout Bay, on which
I eventually built our house. Within about three months I received a letter
from the then Divisional Council requesting that I clear the plot of alien
trees (Port Jackson) as they were considered a fire risk, failing which they
would clear them on my behalf and send me the bill. They did so, and I paid
a bill for R90, which in those days was probably equivalent to R900 in today
terms.
I don't know whether this practice continues today - but I doubt that
it does. If it did, I suspect the fire damage of recent weeks could have
been drastically reduced. It is clear that fire risks escalate as development
creeps up our mountainsides and unless severe measures are adopted to prevent
further occurrences the Billions of Rands worth of damage caused this time
round will no doubt be repeated.
What needs to be done?
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We need the swift application of the CMC's Urban Edge recommendations
ie. reduced density along either side of the Urban Edge transitional zone.
It's ironical that on the day the fire started in Hout Bay, a local landowner
of an agriculturally zoned plot high on Skoorsteenkop applied to the High
Court to have some title deed restrictions, preventing sub-division, expunged
as a prelude to a rezoning application for multiple dwellings on incredibly
steep land. The exact opposite of the Urban Edge recommendations!
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We need the Insurance Companies to get together to penalise those
who fail to clear alien fire risks from their property by means of either
reduced pay outs or increased premiums. If you insure against burglary -
thou shalt have a burglar alarm. If you are on the urban edge - thou shalt
safeguard against alien vegetation fire risks!
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We need several teams of permanent - not casual - fire fighting staff
whose main job is to cut firebreaks on a cyclical basis round the entire
Peninsula. The same teams can cut firebreaks on private land at the owners
expense for at least 50 m either side of the Urban Edge. . (Possibly SAN
Parks should be the contractor for this activity.)
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We need Municipal and Provincial Officials with the guts to refuse
planning permission for buildings in potentially dangerous areas.
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We need law enforcement to apply current legislation which will support
those who do tow the line and penalise those who don't.
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But perhaps more than anything, we need the Municipalities, SAN Parks
and the abutting Communities to get together and communicate pragmatically
setting aside rhetoric and politics, talking seriously about how the Alien
Control and Fire Risk problems can be beaten. Unless we involve all the players
to find a solution, the problem will never ever be solved.
D.C.
Hout Bay & Llandudno Heritage Trust
Website www.zsd.co.za/~houtbay/
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