DOZENS of residents gathered at the Community Town Hall last Thursday evening for the introduction to the Cowies Hill Estate project.
“I love living in Cowies Hill – aside from the fact that it is unsafe in many areas. Our property prices are either stagnating or declining and these are important assets in our lives,” said Cowies Hill Estate board member, Barry East as his opener at meeting.
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During his speech, he noted the change in crime trends and the danger of not evolving and partnering to combat the threat.
“We need a change in response and if we are not finding ways to address that then we are creating loopholes in our security for criminals,” he said.
“We need to plan to secure our future.
“We are not talking as one voice. As a committee we sat down and asked where we, as Cowies Hill, wanted to be in 2020 and in 2025 and we started looking at precinct formats. What we are offering is a holistic view at an estate-run life,” he said.
The non-profit company has already been set up and needs at least 70 per cent of residents in the Cowies Hill area to sign up as paying members or the project will dissolve.
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Under the estate, 750 homes in the area are covered. Through its security it can guarantee one armed response vehicle per 170 homes. There will be six licence plate recognition cameras at the entrances to the area. There will be nine monitored CCTV cameras.
“The area wont look like a prison,” he laughed. “The idea is to make the haystack smaller and the needle bigger.”
The group has prices and budgeted the roll out. Should 70 per cent of residents come on board before the end of November, the roll out time for the projects is between 90 to 180 days.
Funds are paid to the NPC, the board will appoint a managing agent and it will be run as if it were a gated estate.
“What we are offering is something significantly better than what we’ve got. It’s not the silver bullet but its the start to put us as the strongest community in eThekwini.”
Visit www.cowieshillestate.co.za to sign up and to read the memorandum.
