THE cries of residents objecting to the planned Esselen Park housing development have been rejected.
This after the Gauteng MEC for economic development, environment, agriculture and rural development, Lebogang Maile, dismissed the residents’ appeal against the low cost housing development.
Maile was also invited by the community to present his reasons for the dismissal at a June 10 meeting, but failed to pitch.
The taxpayers association and I&APs (interested and affected parties) of the Esselen Park/Birchleigh North Ext 4 Project held a meeting to discuss the latest developments on the Esselen Park housing development project.
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The officials from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as well as Ekurhuleni departmental officials, were invited to the meeting via email on June 2.
Sent via email and dated May 17, Maile states the following reasons for dismissing the community’s appeal:
• The department’s decision to grant authorisation for this development was taken correctly and in compliance with applicable legislation and policies.
• This development does not have the potential to cause significant detrimental impact on the environment and if such impacts should arise, they can be mitigated to acceptable levels.
• This development is in line with the surrounding land use.
• The Public Participation Process undertaken for this development was adequate and in compliance with applicable legislation and policies.
• The issues related to basic services fall within the mandate of the local authority and thus they should be referred to the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.
• In terms of 3.2 of the Environmental Authorisation, the Authorisation Holder is required to apply a 32 metre buffer around the wetland and remove the road infrastructure which traverses the wetland. This condition adequately ensures protection of the wetland on the development site.
The residents are now considering taking legal action in a bid to stop the process.
