The City of Cape Town is proceeding with its land release on the historic Castle bowling green in Woodstock, despite a decision by the Western Cape Heritage council to endorse a heritage impact assessment recommending the land be preserved as urban green space.
The City of Cape Town is proceeding with its land release on the historic Castle bowling green in Woodstock, despite a decision by the Western Cape Heritage council to endorse a heritage impact assessment recommending the land be preserved as urban green space.
The city also intends to appeal the resolution made in mid-May by the national heritage resources authority’s provincial leg, Heritage Western Cape. Despite mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis confirming its intention to appeal, official communication by the city maintains “no decision has yet been taken in this regard”.
Touted for release by the city as the Earl Street Social Housing Project, the erven in question spans the former Woodstock Hospital and a bowling green bordering the historic Melbourne Terrace in Earl Street.
The social impact study, which informed a larger heritage impact assessment, concluded that the two areas should be developed into an urban public park.
The report recommends that they become part of an expanded, upgraded community park because the nearest green space is the Fairview Park, nearly one kilometre away. Its location on the suburb’s busy main streets makes it unsuitable for children.
Another park, further away, is too small to be of significance.
The study also recommended the 160 housing units the city had planned to build there be subsumed into the 600-unit project planned for the former Woodstock Hospital across the road.
On 17 May, Heritage Western Cape’s impact assessment committee resolved to support the recommendations made by the heritage impact assessment. The statutory body supports the study’s recommendation that additional units can be added to the former Woodstock Hospital site.
The committee also supports recommendations to “develop and implement a plan to improve the Earl Street site, Golders Green Park and the field as an urban park for public recreational use to benefit both the existing residents of Woodstock and the future residents of the Woodstock Hospital site”.
Relevant parties have until 6 June to appeal the Heritage Western Cape’s decision.
Well in advance of that date, the city announced the release of five inner city land parcels including the 160 social housing units it plans to develop on the bowling green on 25 May.
According to the city, the released properties are “simply those properties which have reached land release milestones in city council” and are still “at various stages of the statutory land release process … and all relevant factors will need to be taken into account, in any decision on the potential final release of the properties”.
According to Heritage Western Cape’ chief executive, Michael Janse van Rensburg, the city is well within its right to release the land despite the pending appeal period.
“The sale of the land is not subject to the provisions of the National Heritage Resources Act. The landowner may proceed with any sale whilst an appeal is processed,” said Janse van Rensburg.
But the heritage assessment committee’s decision on what the land should be used for is binding.
Should the decision not be honoured, “the work would be deemed to be unauthorised and the necessary legal processes within the National Heritage Resources Act would be undertaken”, Janse van Rensburg said.
The environmental and social assessment consultant, Tony Barbour, who compiled the social impact study, described the city’s intention to appeal the Heritage Western Cape decision as “short-sighted”, in a letter he wrote to Woodstock’s ward councillor, Ian McMahon.
“Based on the work that I undertook in compiling the SIA [social impact study] I think this is a very short-sighted decision and represents a missed opportunity for the City of Cape Town to work together with the Woodstock community to develop a much-needed community amenity and create a win-win situation.”
Since the city’s plans to close and sell land in the area for social housing development, civic organisations and residents expressed their concerns against further densification of the area and the strain it will have on water and sewage infrastructure.
They have consistently said they are not opposed to social housing in the area, including on the hospital site, but are against its construction on the bowling green, and raised their concerns with the city.
Barbour wrote: “The decision to appeal the recommendation is likely to antagonise local civics and the community and raise questions about the city’s commitment to constructive engagement with communities.”
Ernest Ford, chairperson for the Woodstock Aesthetics Advisory Body, said they agree with the decision made by Heritage Western Cape and are “unhappy” with the city’s intention to appeal the decision.
In a suggestion presented to the city, the advisory body advised that the city develop a container village at its Pickwick site in Salt River to house the Woodstock Hospital occupants while the hospital site is redeveloped.
“We see this as a positive way to deal with the situation, while keeping appropriate useful open space,” Ford said.
The Woodstock Residents Association said it will query the city’s planned appeal with McMahon during a meeting in early June.
The association also said it will lead its own appeal against the Heritage Western Cape’s decision to consider adding the 160 housing units planned for the bowling green to the 600-unit project planned for the former Woodstock Hospital.
“We made the point in the meeting that the units which will not be built at Earl Street should not be added to the hospital site, as we just got the consultants and architects to agree to make the height of the planned social housing on the old hospital site heritage compatible,” the association’s Ute Kuhlmann said.
During his address to the city council at the end of May, Hill-Lewis did not mention the land release of the Woodstock hospital site, despite Heritage Western Cape expressing its support to develop social housing at the site.
The city said the hospital site has not yet reached a “council milestone” because of the “orchestrated building hi-jacking of March 2017 and related unlawful occupation”. But it said the property remains “part of the social housing pipeline”.
The Woodstock Hospital is illegally occupied by people demanding affordable housing. Although there is no clear indication when the occupiers will be removed from the hospital, the city council previously said it is in the process of completing a court-ordered survey of the unlawful occupants.
The illegal occupation is led by Reclaim the City, which did not respond to a media inquiry from the Mail & Guardian.
Barbour told the M&G that because of the illegal occupation at the hospital site, it will take years before the city can make that land available for social housing. With the election coming up next year, “the city wants to be seen to be doing something about housing”.
“[The city] sees the Earl Street site as a low hanging fruit, an easy site to develop, and they can pick it off and say that they’ve developed social housing,” Barbour said.