Burning issues raised at Craigpark Residents Association AGM

A number of burning issues affecting residents was the topic of conversation at the recent Craigpark Residents Association’s (CRA) annual general meeting (AGM) held at Craighall Primary School.

On 14 March, Ward 90 councillor, Martin Williams, engaged the more than 100 residents, who noted the excessive valuation of properties in the northern suburbs, the planned widening of Jan Smuts Avenue and the invasion of the shothole borer (a bark beetle that lives between the bark and the surface of the wood) that has attacked hundreds of tree species in the suburbs.

“On the question of valuation we’re all concerned. The mayor [Herman Mashaba] has admitted to being very concerned,” Williams told the Gazette. “My personal property has gone up 77,5 per cent which I’ll be objecting to. I tried to assure people that the objection process will be fair. It does [however] require a lot of time and quite a lot of explanation.”

Regarding the planned widening of Jan Smuts Avenue, Williams said once works kick-off, some major disruptions can be expected. This will spill over to the immediate surrounds of Jan Smuts Avenue – resulting in severe congestion.

“When this widening does happen – and it’s going to happen quite soon but not in the next couple of months – there’ll be a tremendous amount of disruption, which will affect the side roads in Dunkeld and Craighall Park, especially. The traffic in Kent Road will also be considerably increased.”

Ryan Roseveare, CRA chairperson, added his voice to the issues raised. “It’s been interesting that a lot of people find the property valuation interesting or are having issues with it and I think our councillor kind of addressed it,” said Roseveare. “The removal of the trees is quite a contentious issue, particularly for the environmental folk, which comes with the widening of Jan Smuts Avenue.

“The borer problem with the bugs killing off the trees needs us to find a solution and we really need the City to help there. The northern suburbs is an urban forest and we can’t have 60 per cent of our trees dying off, let alone the danger of trees falling over.”

The question of security, however, was also hot on the agenda, something which has seen the public space security provider attached to the CRA go from CSS Beagle to Cap.

“Obviously very important for us in our suburbs is security; it’s always a hot topic. We’ve recently changed our public space security provider to Cap, who are adding some value straight away.”

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