Save Plett Alliance – Final Scoping Report Rejected
Department of Environmental Affairs Rejects Final Scoping Report
Dear friend of Plettenberg Bay
First, a huge thank you to those who so generously donated toward the Save Plett legal fund after the circulation of our last information letter. A further R80 000 was deposited into the Save Plett account during the past week, leaving us with R140 000 to be raised to settle the outstanding legal bill. Please remember that the Save Plett committee works on an entirely voluntary basis.
The great news: the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning sent a notification that they reject the Final Scoping Report to the developer on 7 April 2014.
Note that this is a rejection of the Final Scoping Report, not of the entire proposal.
The Department rejected the Report based on a number of technical and procedural shortcomings, summarised below in layman terms.
Download the full Report here.
Primary reasons for rejection
The full response from the Department is attached. Please read the full response and do not just rely on the summary below, which is merely intended to simplify and highlight the main issues.
- The developer did not demonstrate that such a development was needed or desired, and it is not part of any wider regional plan.
- The developer simply ignored the “overwhelming responses and inputs received from interested and affected parties”. He failed to provide any alternatives to his proposed development, which was rejected by most people.
- The developer did not consider the option of building a small harbour without the huge additional apartment blocks and shops.
- The developer failed to show how this development would fit into the Bitou municipality’s wider strategic plans.
- The developer ignored the Bitou municipality’s concerns about infrastructure and financial risks and long-term maintenance guarantees.
- The summary sheet does not provide the comment dates or names of interested and affected parties.
- The developer does not specify how he will address the issue of development setback lines or development below the 5m contour line.
- The developer gives no details on how the public will participate in the Environmental Impact Assessment.
- The developer did not supply enough copies of the report to the Department.
What now?
Despite the above shortcomings, the Department says the developer may resubmit the Final Scoping Report within six months if he makes the required changes (and the six months can be extended if he can motivate why it should take longer).
However, if he does so, the developer must first submit all amendments that he proposes to all interested and affected parties and then present their comments to the Department together with the amended report – quite a tall order, since thousands of members of the public have become “interested and affected parties”.
Critical issues
The Department of Environmental Affairs does not stop with just listing the main reasons for rejecting the Final Scoping Report.
It also urges the the developers to bear in mind the following “critical issues”:
- The Piesang River estuary is an important estuary, ranked 57th out of 250 estuaries on the national estuary list.
- The proposed development is subject to a licence that must be obtained from the Department of Water Affairs.
- The proposed development is subject to the Integrated Coastal Management Act (ICMA) and a coastal lease agreement. The Department refers to Section 63, which specifically prohibits development on coastal public property. An amendment of the ICMA now even requires ministerial pre-approval before any environmental application can be made.
- The Economic Impact Assessment conducted by Rand International Capital concluded that the scale and scope of the proposed development is too large for Plettenberg Bay; the Department warns that the developer will have to conduct a market demand analysis to prove the need and desirability from the commercial perspective.
The rejection of the Final Scoping Report comes as a major blow to the developer and will hopefully discourage him from proceeding further.
However, it does not necessarily mean that the matter is finally over.
In fact, we have information that the developer is attempting another route: putting pressure on the Municipality to enter into a Public-Private-Partnership agreement based on the original agreements between the parties.
Should this succeed, Central Government and more specifically the National Treasury may become be involved in the matter.
Thank you again. We will keep you posted on further developments.
Our bank details are as follows:
Account: Save Plett Alliance
Standard Bank Plettenberg Bay
Branch code: 050714
Account number: 387355316
Swift code: SBZA ZAJJ
Reference: Your name and email address
Save Plett Alliance