Councillor demands action on developments in Ward 87

Ward 87 councillor Kyle Jacobs, along with Ward 72 councillor and Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow MMC for Development Planning Daniel Shay, conducted an oversight into residents building illegally on their properties in Melville, Auckland Park and Brixton on June 24, with concerns on the already strained infrastructure and the lack of transparency in the approval process.

Jacobs stated that he has been receiving numerous complaints from residents over these developments in his ward, with a lack of action being taken on these properties.

Also read: New developments strain city’s infrastructure

He added that all building on residents’ properties requires approval from the city’s Development Planning Department, which must obtain confirmation from internal entities to ensure infrastructure can handle increased demand.

“With these new developments, these issues have been raised with the city with the relevant departments. But all they are doing is issuing out warnings, notices, stop orders, and they claim to impose penalty rates,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs added that there had been no further action from the city to address this.

He concluded that residents need to follow the by-laws of the city, and the rule of law must be upheld.

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