Glenmore student res task team on hold
The Task Team which was formed to address mushrooming student accommodation in Glenmore and Manor Gardens.
FOLLOWING further complaints about mushrooming student accommodation establishments in ward 101, Councillor Thabani Mthethwa, PR councillor for the ward and DA eThekwini caucus chief whip, has announced there had been a hold-up with the Task Team which was formed to address this issue, as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Councillor Mthethwa said earlier this year, a meeting was called to determine the way forward following the opening of a number of establishments in the Carrington Heights and Manor Gardens areas.
Mthethwa said it emerged that there was a need to regulate student accommodation.
The residents formed a Task Team to deal with the establishments with the aim to profile each facility and ensure safety and security is adhered to.
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He said there was a need to look at each of these establishments and determine whether they comply with regulations and ensure they are known to the municipality and the university.
Mthethwa said a meeting would need to be convened to encourage stakeholder engagement to manage the situation.
This would include Land Use Management, business licencing, the CPF and residents.
However, following recent complaints from residents in Hyder Road, Glenmore, Mthethwa said the Task Team had compiled a list of stakeholders, however they had been unable to meet due to lockdown.
Concerned Hyder Road residents said since the student residence scheme came into effect in Glenmore and Carrington Heights there had been an increase in noise and littering.
“It is an unfortunate fact that students don’t have a vested interest in their surroundings. They treat their surroundings as a ‘once off’ three year party period in their lives and will move on after that. They have no respect for common municipal by-laws. Broken bottles, litter and so on has become the norm. We are constantly picking up after they dump litter on our verges. My neighbour has cleared out 25 black bags of rubbish and bottles that were just thrown over his boundary wall,” said one resident.
She said with lockdown the situation has become worse. Many people now work from home, and students that have remained in residence throw parties on any given day and time of the week.
“I just feel that our lovely tranquil neighbourhood has been hijacked by this element and greater vigilance, monitoring and education into acceptable behaviour and so on needs to take place from both the landlord who has these students residing on their premises, as well as the university they study at. I have been a rate-payer in this neighbourhood for over 20 years and I am saddened to see how the suburb has gone down. If the situation persists our family will be looking at selling up and relocating,” she said.
Mthethwa said now that lockdown restrictions had eased further, the Task Team would hopefully meet to compile a list of every student res in Glenwood and Glenmore.
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“We will work with UKZN to get a list of accredited residences. There are a lot of residences, including illegal ones, in Manor Gardens up to Glenwood and it is becoming a problem to keep on top of this. People need to follow the right channels through the municipality so it is easier to regulate,” he said.
Mthethwa said he had once again contacted Land Use Management regarding the student accommodation which was being built in Bowen Avenue, Glenmore, however he had received no response from enforcement.
“The main issue is the slow pace of enforcement of by-laws. These establishments should be demolished or the owners fined. The municipality knows about them but there is no follow-up to ensure enforcement of by-laws,” he said.
On a site visit to Hyder Road this month, Mthethwa also noted cables which ran along the pavement and into a property. He said he had heard from residents that there had been issues with Telkom lines in the area, and was sure these cables were for Wi-Fi.
“I will investigate and contact the service provider. This is a problem as the cables can be damaged by being on the ground, or people could get shocked,” he said.
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