'Intrusive' Oracle plans put on hold
Cape Town planners have been sent back to the drawing board in a five-year battle over the "intrusive" addition of four floors to a city centre building.
Judge Ashley Binns-Ward, in a Cape Town High Court judgment on Friday, 13 January, was scathing about the decision by the council's former head of building development management, Peter Henshall-Howard, to give the go-ahead for development of the Oracle, in Buitenkant Street.
The body corporate of the neighbouring building, Four Seasons, successfully applied for a judicial review of the council decision after obtaining an interdict to halt work in 2012.
In his review ruling, Binns-Ward ordered the council to reconsider the planning application by the Oracle's owners, the Simcha Trust, and to ensure that neither Henshall-Howard nor the council employee who drew up the report recommending approval were involved.
The Four Seasons body corporate complained that the Oracle extension - which has remained incomplete - had the effect of turning eighth-floor balconies into courtyards "confined between towering walls". For apartments on the ninth and tenth floors, it meant their view was replaced by a blank wall 3m from their windows.
Binns-Ward, who inspected the site before hearing the case, said the case was not about the loss of a view or about the appearance of the Oracle building. Instead, it was about something "so exceptionally intrusive and objectionable that it would not reasonably have been foreseen" by anyone buying a Four Seasons flat.
Henshall-Howard had displayed a "fundamentally misguided belief that [the law] allows an uncoordinated and potentially disharmonious approach" to planning applications, he said.
Although Henshall-Howard has since retired, he still does ad hoc work for the council.
"It is desirable ... that someone without his preconceived opinion should decide the matter," said Binns-Ward, who awarded costs against the council.
Source: The Times
Source: I-Net Bridge
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
