Tudor Place loses its charm

A LACK of service delivery has allowed one of Berea’s heritage streets, Tudor Place, disintegrate into an overgrown, dilapidated and dirty street, a far cry from the premier hot property it once was.

Now residents in Tudor Place are putting a petition together to demand eThekwini authorities do something about cleaning up their neighbourhood and restoring it to the quaint charm it was once known for.

Homeowners say they are paying premier rates and taxes for their once sought-after Durban property, but claim the municipality has allowed the street to almost turn to decay and lose its uniqueness through the blatant lack of service delivery on the street which is more than 80 years old.

Janet Oberholzer, a resident who has lived in the cul-de-sac on Tudor Place for more than 23 years said historically, there was only the big house on the road and people were only allowed to purchase land on condition they build Tudor styled homes.

Since then the charming little street has deteriorated with overgrown verges, pavements are unkempt and full of weeds, glass lanterns, which were specifically used in the street to fit in with the Tudor style are broken and trees have been allowed to spread their branches over the road preventing even small vehicles from passing underneath overhanging branches. Oberhlozer said she had tried for months to get city officials to do something about the general lack of services through numerous phone calls and emails, with no success.

“We have to have community pride and do not want to let things get worse. The foliage hanging on the road is also a security risk as as you can’t see if someone is hiding there and is dangerous for those motorists who rush up the road to make a U-turn if they are lost,”she said.

Another concerned resident, Dr Brenda Bosch, who had always admired the road before she moved in eight years ago, said their concern was not just about the aesthetics. “We have all almost had accidents and I have scraped my car on the overhanging branches. You have to drive into onto oncoming traffic in order to see anything,” she said, adding that the unkempt pavements which are broken in many parts, created a safety concern for pedestrians walking on the pavement.

Residents also raised issues with one of the houses on the road which is being rented. Rubbish has piled up on the pavement outside the house and there is evidence of maggots. Concerned neighbours have tried in vain to get various municipal departments to assist by inspecting the safety and health issues on the road.

Desperate residents have enlisted the help of ward councillor Jethro Leferve, to assist them and have decided to sign a petition in the hopes of getting the municipality to address their concerns. “Our beautiful suburb Berea, is falling into neglect and we desperately want to be able to bring it back to its former glory. We want to uplift the Berea, but we believe that if we have to start, we have to start somewhere and that is with our little street,” said a determined Oberholzer.

Leferve visited Tudor Place last week to see for himself, saying afterward that he had been “appalled.”

“It was worse than I thought. I immediately got on the phone to Parks Department and requested an urgent intervention to cut back the overgrown bush and then charge the owner who refuses to cut it back. I find it shocking that this slumlord is actually supplying housing to contractors who are working on the harbour, and who are from China and don’t know any better about how things work here. I can only imagine that they are rather embarrassed at having to live in such a pigsty.”

Leferve promised to follow the matter closely and chase these kinds of issues across the ward.

Municipal spokesman Thabo Mofokeng said the municipality was looking into the matter.