Illegal development in Crowthorne steams ahead without City’s approval

Ward 132 councillor Annette Deppe has applied for an urgent interdict to stop the construction of an illegal building by Balwin Properties in The Whisken, Crowthorne in Midrand.

“The building has been under construction for a couple of months and no approval for the 1 000 unit building has been granted, and the land use application is still under evaluation, yet the building is currently three storeys high,” said Deppe. “Confirmation of this was received in writing from the executive director of the City of Joburg’s Development Planning Department.”

Graham de Kock, chairperson of the development planning Section 79 committee for the City said the approval for the building had not yet been finalised, therefore the developer was not authorised to start building. He added that it was the obligation of the City and developer to ensure that the processes were finalised.

“The [City] will not tolerate illegal land use or illegal building from an established developer because the standards and processes must be maintained at all times and the requirement of both the City and developer must be met,” said De Kock.

Deppe said the developer’s development certificate had expired and the company was supposed to reapply for a renewal, therefore the construction of the building had become illegal.

“Part of the application for the development mandated that occupancy of the units scheduled to begin in August had to ensure that construction of the R55 be underway. This is a provincial road and no funding has been allocated in the current financial [budget] to undertake this upgrade, but the developers have continued to sell off plan,” added Deppe.

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Balwin Properties was contacted by Midrand Reporter but the developer refused to comment, stating that they did not wish to comment on the matter at this stage.

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