Housing in Southern Africa April 2015

News

Unlocking Brighton Road’s bright future The City of Cape Town is a step closer to its vision of redesigning the important Brighton Road in Kraaifontein, which has the potential to act as a catalyst for investment and the further, well-planned development of this area.

enabling Brighton Road as an activity street. Much benefit can be derived from an inclusive, thriving street cul- ture and, in the end, this adds to the experience and diversity of a dynamic city such as Cape Town,” said van der Merwe. The lack of capacity to accom- modate existing traffic demand on Brighton Road, as well as future demand as a result of further urban growth, necessitates the preparation of an arterial management plan for Brighton Road which will include all modes of transport. It will take into account the potential future land use development scenarios and access requirements. “In addition, it is foreseen that the Brighton Road area could be divided into three precincts, comprising de- velopment zones, which will be in- tegrated with public transport,” said van der Merwe. ■ Benedicta van Minnen. The development includes two new schools, a regional clinic as well as two properties zoned as places of worship. The commercial precinct opened in November 2014. The development includes gener- ous open spaces with surrounding houses overlooking central court- yards. The False Bay Ecology Park can be accessed during the day and provides pleasant opportunities for bird watching and a picnic spot over- looking Zeekoevlei. ■

attractive, functional andwell-planned urban spacewithdedicated, safe and comfortable pedes- trian areas including wide sidewalks. This includes ade- quate room for tree planting, greater access to efficient public transport and to non-motorised transport such as cycling. “This area has experienced rapid urbanisation over the last decade but most of this growth has been in the formof lowdensity, suburban sprawl. Our long-termgoal is to create quality urban areas, whichwill attract invest- ment and further development,” says Johan van der Merwe, Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, En- vironmental and Spatial Planning. ‘We need to literally create an enabling environment to increase investment that will drive job cre- ation. The proposed plan focuses on 700 fully subsidised units are due for completion by December 2016. “With our partners, we aremaking progress and this project shows that we cannot rely only on government to fund the large-scale delivery of hous- ing opportunities for marginalised residents. We must draw in the pri- vate sector to balance the dynamics of the housingmarket andwe have to devise newways to ensure delivery of scale. The city cannot do this alone,” said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements,

T he City’s Portfolio Committee for Energy, Environmental and Spatial Planning has recom- mended to the Executive Mayor and Council that the proposed integrated land use, urban design and transport management plan for Brighton Road be adopted as policy. The City’s proposed plan for Brigh- ton Road foresees the creation of an P elican Park, the public/private sector R700 million develop- ment is a World Design Capital 2014 project. It will offer various residential opportunities including 760 Gap market affordable housing units from R320 000; affordable housing fromR480 000 to R700 000; and 2 024 government fully subsidised units. The City of Cape Town has already handed over 1 200 Breaking New Ground (BNG) fully subsidisedunits to beneficiaries of PelicanPark. A further Pelican Park

April 2015