With plan approvals by the City Council now taking an exceptionally long time, it is frustrating that otherwise valid building or alteration plans can quite often be further held up by “green” issues.
 
This was said recently by Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank.
 
“We all appreciate the need to protect and expand the natural landscapes,” said Steward, “and we value the fact that the City Council now has a Department of Environments – but it makes no sense that the presence of “valuable” trees can prevent an entire building from being given the ok.”
 
In one case of which she knew, said Steward, until a single tree was removed, it was impossible to build on the site at all.
 
The Council, said Steward, had traditionally adopted the policy that if it is necessary to move any trees from a site, this might be approved provided a new tree planting was undertaken elsewhere on the erf.
 
This policy, she said, had resulted in many sites becoming really attractive, even if at the outset they looked a little bare.
 
For further information contact Lanice Steward on 021 671 9120 or email lanice@anneporter.co.za.