The following extract is from recent items published in the Hout Bay press.

by Dave Cowley - Hout Bay Chronicle

I'm a great believer in the adage "If you can't measure it you can't manage it. "The current breed of business management Gurus with their computer predictions and databases will tell you that 'metrics' (the measurement of resources and activities ) are one of the major keys to success in our modern rat-race world. The fact is that 'metrics' usually eventually translate into values such as Rands and Cents and on that basis good business decisions can be made which reduce risk and chances of failure.

How then do we measure the value of our environment? I don't think many have put their finger on the answer up to now but I would like to suggest one method with which we can all identify.

The greatest investment that most fortunate people make in a lifetime is the purchase of a house. The elements that contribute to the price are the bricks and mortar, fixtures and fittings, the garden, and the environment. If you have a house in, lets say, Hout Bay, it would be theoretically possible to reconstruct an exact replica of the house together with a similar garden, etc. in somewhere like Woodstock or Rugby, however, the market value of the house would be considerably less. That difference is that component representing the "Value of the Environment". Remember, Woodstock was once un-spoiled with breathtaking views of Table Mountain and a pristine beach, but, alas, not any more.

Clearly, if one adds together the environmental elements of the value of each house in a community one soon starts to get to a figure of hundreds of millions of Rands - the value of the community's environment - surely an investment that a community or municipality cannot ignore and must protect?

Make no mistake, whilst our environment is very valuable, it is equally very vulnerable and particularly attractive to developers who see the opportunity to make money at the expense of the community. A sympathetic development can addvalue to the quality of an environment but make no mistake, a bad one can cost the community millions of rands. For example, there is no doubt that the residents close to a recently built fast fried chicken outlet have lost thousands of Rands as a result of the intrusion of a hideous building into their environment. How can this be allowed to happen?

The dedicated members of our own Ward Planning Committee, who live here and who give up a great deal of time to examine planning applications are frequently overruled by officials from over the mountain and often rezonings and developments are passed by Council and voted for by councillors who have minimal knowledge of our community.

Surely, in any community, it is the responsibility of municipal planners to make judgements on planning issues that enhance the overall value of their built and natural environments. It is now time that considerably greater power was vested in our own community to make such judgements by way of the further empowerment of our Ward Planning Committee rather than be dictated to by officials in Tokai or Plumstead and, Heaven forbid, eventually Tygerberg.

Dave Cowley

99/09/20