Ratepayers play a positive role

The monthly meeting of the Bluff Ratepayers Association held on Thursday, 25 July, continued to attract new stakeholder support.

New issues seeking attention emanated from Bluff Road, Winchelsea Avenue and Silwerblaar Street. Concern expressed by Marlborough Park School at the high speed of traffic approaching Peacehaven Place is being addressed.

A request to the relevant metro department for the construction of a traffic circle below the Hartlepool intersection has been logged. Such an intervention is seen as compelling vehicles to slow down and thereby reduce the risk facing pedestrians wanting to cross the road.

For more than a year, the sewer drain in the cul-de-sac of Winchelsea Avenue has been open, despite appeals to metro to secure its closure.

Questionable building construction in Silwerblaar Street and piles of building debris on the verge is to be investigated. It was noted that the illegal shack in the lower end of Island View Road had been demolished. However, debris from its construction littered the road reserve.

The Ratepayers Association has filed a complaint with the human rights commission regarding the demolition of the informal settlement below Garcin Place.

The association has enquired whether a court order was obtained for the demolition and whether an alternative lodging location was provided for the informal settlers.

Responding to criticism as to why the association should be concerned about such issues, chairman Ivor Aylward, stated that while he was opposed to informal settlements, the spirit of the law governing the demolition of such structures had to be practised and respected.

Excessive illegal dumping at the Jacobs Anglo-Boer War intern camp in Dudley Street has transformed this historic site into a landfill. The association has been badgering the relevant metro departments to remedy the situation for several months.

As a new strategy, it has decided on a political approach seeing as those who were interned and who died in that camp were opposed to British colonialism.

The next meeting of the Bluff Ratepayers Association takes place on Thursday, 29 August.

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