NEWS
Hermanus
The
READ ME, I’M A LOCAL
News You Can Use
Issue 9
22 DECEMBER 2015
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Dismay over bypass proposal Residents of Hermanus have uttered their dismay and concern at the final scoping report of the environmental consultants of the Western Cape Government on the proposed bypass road in Hermanus. “Although several residents and we, as the Hermanus Ratepayers’ Association (HRA), made suggestions as to alternative routes, none of these were included into the final scoping report. The report, as it stands now proposes two alternative routes that have an immense impact on property and business owners, the Fernkloof Nature Reserve and schools in the area,” says Bob Stanway, chair of the HRA. According to the report the Department of Transport and Public Works (DTPW) proposes to construct a bypass road approximately 3 km long, to the north of the Hermanus Central Business District (CBD), abutting Mountain Drive, past the Hermanus Sports Complex and along Fairways Avenue.
“The bypass starts in the vicinity of the intersection of Main Road, Mountain Drive and Mimosa Street in the west, runs in a northeasterly direction along and to the north of Mountain Drive and the existing edge of the built environment and passes either to the north of the cemetery and the proposed new Hermanus Sports Complex before turning southwards along the eastern edge of the sports fields (northern alternative); or to the south of the cemetery and intersects with Lord Roberts Drive before continuing in a northeasterly direction along Jose Burman Drive between the Hermanus High School and the proposed new Hermanus Sport Complex (southern alternative),” states the report done by SRK Consulting on behalf of the government. “From there it continues southwards across the eastern portion of the Hermanus High School sports fields and along a section of Fairways Avenue between the residential suburb of Eastcliff and Hermanus Golf Course and joins Main Road at a new traffic circle approximately
110m to the north-east of the existing intersection of Fairways Avenue with Main Road,” according to the report, “There are several issues that we as Hermanus residents have to take into account,” says Bob. “The first is that all the studies that were done do not show a real need for a bypass. Only about 7% of traffic coming into Hermanus leaves again towards Stanford. The traffic congestion that we have is because of the volume of traffic coming into the CBD rather than throughtraffic. The second concern is that the bypass is not included in the Overstrand Municipality’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP), nor in those of the Overberg District Municipality, the Western Cape Spatial Development Framework or Provincial Land Transport Framework. We can therefore not ascertain where the need or the reason for building a bypass comes from,” says Bob. Anina Lee, Communications Manager of
Whale Coast Conservation, also expressed her concern about the proposed bypass. “As the report stands now, the bypass will encroach on land of the Fernkloof Nature Reserve. It is a matter of principal that we cannot allow land that is part of a nature reserve to be used as a public space to build infrastructure. There is no justification for that and will set a dangerous precedent,” she says. Mayor Nicolette Botha-Guthrie says the bypass is not included in the IDP and no documents have served before council with regard to it. “I can therefore not comment either for or against it.” “The HRA is aware that within Hermanus there is both opposition to and support for the bypass and interested and affected parties are urged to familiarize themselves with the issues. Everyone has until 5 February 2016 to submit comments on the final scoping report,” says Bob. Read more on p6