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Feb 08, 2008:
A major difficulty in developing any sort of built structure in South Africa's rural areas is that there will usually be strong emotional reactions to the proposals made.
This was said recently by Clive Venning, chief executive of the Boschendal estate.
"I identify strongly with this type of reaction. None of us want ever to see valuable and attractive farmland built on or used for inappropriate purposes. What does concern me, however, is that even when responsible, sensitive developers come forward with proposals which are totally conservation-related and which will be wholly beneficial to the local communities, there is all too often still a predilection simply to block the scheme."
Venning said that on his previous project, the 612 hectare Pezula estate at Knysna, some 60% of the land proposed for development had been covered with commercial pine and blue gum forests which for years had been commercially unprofitable, neglected and had totally eliminated the local fynbos. These forests, said Venning, were useless for any purpose, even for hiking.
"When it was then proposed that we replace the forests with a limited number of properties, all of which would be at least 4,000sq m in size and on which we undertook to reinstate the fynbos, there was still an outcry from the public - which persisted for at least two years. Only recently have people come to accept that the development embraced conservation principles and has been valuable to the whole community."
At Boschendal, said Venning, the public's emotional reactions are reinforced by the age and the historical associations of the estate, on which the first Huguenot settlers started farming in 1685. He said the reactions were also fuelled by the fact that some 170 hectares of the estate are attractive vineyards.
"For these and other reasons, it is understandable that some people would prefer a blanket ban on development and their reaction is, again, comprehensible if one looks at what has happened as a result of subdivision in the Paarl-Simondium corridor where overbuilt smallholdings, often no more than one or two hectares in size, have proliferated and ruined the rural landscape.
"However, it has to be stressed again and again that the proposals for Boschendal will not result in this type of subdivision. The key points in our plans are that the current farming operation, under the supervision of the former farm management employing at least 65 permanent people and far more at harvest time, will continue in perpetuity. No homeowner here will have any rights over the farm operation nor will they be allowed to fence off their section."
Furthermore, said Venning, it has to be realised that the area set aside for the 26 farm villages where Boschendal hopes to develop 350 houses are already built up. Those villages were originally lived in by farm labourers and managers under a right-to-occupy-but-not-to-own arrangement. Now all these employees have all been given their own homes, with freehold title, in Languedoc.
The original villages, said Venning, are standing empty, boarded up and deteriorating. They are often, he said, an eyesore - but, in his view, they have the potential to be upgraded into housing.
Other proposals for Boschendal to be included in the planning approval submission, said Venning, will involve a retirement village, a boutique hotel and a retail centre. These together with the 5% of Boschendal already built on will result in 11% of the estate being developed, leaving 89% free for general space, agriculture and nature conservation.
"Here, too, the conservation principles on which we have worked throughout will be rigorously maintained. The retirement village will be on land in the south-west section of the estate which has been totally unproductive, while the retail and hotel complexes will take the place of the now defunct railway siding, saw mill and factories, which have also been out of action for longer than most people can remember."
For more information contact Tim Cartwright on 083 443 5534.
