Plans to build a new Reddam School in the Glenferness area have been met with resistance from residents in the area.
Residents say that the public consultation process was flawed and that their concerns were not being addressed by the company responsible for the development.
The idea to build a Reddam School Helderfontein in the area was conceived about four years ago. It is expected to eventually accommodate 1 200 schoolchildren, and Century Property Developments is responsible for the project. Construction began in January this year, and the school will be open in January next year.
“No one is objecting to there being a school here, per se,” said Jassy MacKenzie, a resident who has lived in the area for 12 years.
“But we want it done properly, and it seems like no one is listening to the concerns that we [residents] have.”
According to Century, advertisements notifying residents about the new school’s construction were placed in public places in the area during December last year to begin a consultation process with affected parties such as residents to raise objections and put forward potential problems with the project. But locals claimed that this did not happen and, as a result, the complaints that residents did submit were too late to be officially considered.
Residents are also unsure if the property company has managed to get all the required permissions to start the construction phase. There is also concern that the two roads, Chattan and Mull roads proposed as entrance and exit points for the school, are too small and dangerous to handle the amount of traffic.
“The plans that they have for the roads are just not going to work,” said Keith Bush, the roads and development representative for the Glenferness Resident’s Association (GAF).
“The road won’t be able to handle so many cars, it’s only 4.5m wide. Safety is also a concern – there are a number of equestrian businesses in the area and people often go riding on the roads. Increasing traffic and add riders and children on the road and there are bound to be accidents, potentially fatal ones.”
Another concern of GAF was at the intersection of Chattan Road and Main Road where there were no traffic lights, meaning that parents leaving the area could not join the major road safely after dropping pupils off. Bush and other committee members approached the Johannesburg Roads Agency with their concerns but, as the agency had already approved the plans, nothing came of their meetings.
Michael Bishop, who is the principal architect for Century and has been involved with the project, refuted the claims made by Bush and others regarding the potential problems faced with the establishment of a new school.
“People have known that this project is coming for years,” he told Fourways Review.
“Residents and others have had plenty of time to object.”
He confirmed that while Chattan and Mull roads would, indeed, be used as entrances, there would also be another one on Irving Road and no one road would bear the brunt of traffic. “What people need to understand is that development like this is in line with what the City of Johannesburg wants. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t have all the necessary permission needed to undertake a project like this.
“I don’t believe that the traffic will be an issue, I think maybe people are just a little emotional about the situation.”
