DEVELOPMENT at the former Newmarket Stables is to go ahead following a ruling handed down by the Durban High Court in favour of the municipality last week.
Work on the soccer academy planned for the site, through developers Hoy Park together with the SA Football Association, will reportedly start once the land has been vacated. Plans for the multimillion-Rand academy were allegedly submitted to the City at the beginning of 2019.
The academy will include new training fields, a revamped velodrome, accommodation for students, a hotel, a high-performance training centre and other related services.
Due to the ruling, Stables Lifestyle Market traders and Metro Police have been given until the end of March to vacate the site.
In response to this, work went ahead to erect a temporary shelter for Metro Police horses at a site alongside Umgeni Road, which has since been deemed unsuitable.
Ward councillor Ernest Smith, said he had been told by a source within the municipality that although work had gone ahead, the project had been stopped.
However when he, along with members of the Finance, Security and Emergency Services Committee, visited the site on Tuesday, work was still in progress on the new stables, meant to home seven horses until a more permanent solution has been found.
Smith said he had been shocked to see the temporary stables, which were right alongside busy Umgeni Road, and surrounded by mounds of concrete bollards, making the site totally unsuitable for horses.
He questioned the lack of grazing ground, the proximity to both the stadiums (noise factor), the fact that there was no water or electricity on the site and queried why work had gone ahead on this structure without proper consultation.
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“It’s all very well to have this infrastructure but there are guidelines which need to be followed when building stables. This project went ahead but this wasn’t taken into account. I haven’t seen any plans for these stables, and now work has allegedly been stopped,” he said. Adding he had called for the committee to urgently visit the site.
Councillors Chris van den Berg, Nicole Bollman and Emmanuel Mhlongo said their concern was for the safety of the horses. They were concerned that horses homed at the site could be injured.
“I was told the temporary stables would cost around R180 000 to build, however looking at this structure, this is about a R30 000 job. I was told the deputy mayor visited the Umgeni Road site and made the call for the horses to be moved to the Coastal Care Horse Unit in Cato Ridge temporarily, which will mean having to transport them to Durban when on duty, which will be costly and put pressure on the animals,” said Smith.
Van den Berg said the committee’s concern was the wasteful expenditure and ultimate permanent home for the horses.
“We need to look at what the contract entailed. If this was a R180 000 job, what was the money used for? This building will need to be dismantled before it is used as a shelter by the homeless. If we had been aware of this project before, a lot of time and money could’ve been saved,” he said.
Smith said his source at the municipality had informed him that a meeting will be held on Friday with all stakeholders to find a strategic way forward.
“Potential sites have been identified and will be discussed a the meeting,” he said. Smith said it was a pity the horses couldn’t stay at the stables where they have been housed for many years, however it had been neglected to make way for the academy.”
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