Imagine driving around in half of a car, or better still, being denied the use of a car just because you happen to live or work along the route where the Tshwane Rapid Transport (TRT) bus service is deployed. This is a reality envisaged by the Tshwane metro council, when in last month’s council meeting dealing with the densification along the TRT routes, it was decided to limit public vehicles along these routes.
During the March sitting of the metro council, a new densification and intensification policy was implemented, despite the fact that the policy never went out for public participation. When a policy is formed for local government, it usually goes out for public participation for input from residents, residents’ associations, councillors, and all interested and affected parties.
”In this case, the ruling party did not consult with anyone. I questioned the council on when the TRT policy for densification and intensification would go out for public participation, but no answer was given. Instead, it was pushed through without any participatory democracy,” DA Councillor Siobhan Muller said.
”The policy has serious flaws, one of which is the drastic reduction of parking in developments along the TRT routes. The policy states that only 0.5 parking spaces are required per unit with one or more rooms for high densification along the TRT routes. Parking requirements for office and retail developments have also been reduced along the TRT routes.”
This is problematic, since no one owns half a car, and if only every second unit is allowed to park their car, where would all the cars belonging to residents be stored?
“The proposed parking requirements are a disaster. The same approach was taken in Johannesburg and developments are now sitting with massive parking issues. The policy, as well as the Regional Spatial Development Framework, does not allow off-street parking, so where will residents leave their cars?” she asked.
She pointed out that the result could very well be high-density residential blocks that are unsaleable due to no parking being available on-site. Property prices in these areas would plummet, and illegal pavement parking would create massive security issues. “The sustainability of these proposals is clearly lacking, and the basic principal of public participation was ignored by the ruling party. No opportunity has been given for stakeholders to represent the interests of their constituencies, and the MMC certainly did not provide the structure for discussion, negotiation and joint decision making which should have been provided,” she said.
