Last month, Sandton Chronicle reported on illegal dumping along the strip of land between Old Kilcullen Road and William Nicol Drive.
Property developer Frank Peter who has been accused of dumping illegally claimed to be using the piece of land for landscaping and beautification.
Residents complained that building rubble was regularly dumped at this site, upsetting the catchment area’s ability to absorb rain into the river system and causing an eyesore in the area.
Peter saw the issue as a misunderstanding and claimed to be using the space to create a shoulder to Old Kilcullen Road for safety and landscaping purposes. He had, however, not received a way leave or legal permission to use the land for his beautification project.
To resolve the matter, on 2 August, Peter met with ward councillor David Potter, representatives of the Johannesburg Roads Agency, Metro police, Johannesburg City Parks and Johannesburg Property Company (JPC).
Peter said, “The officials went a bit over the top recommending that we should enter into a lease over the property when all we are looking to do is beautify the area between Old Kilcullen and Nicol, and have a shoulder on Old Kilcullen so that a car can pull off the road where necessary and have a few speed humps to slow the rat runners who speed dangerously along this section of the road.”
Peter believes the roads agency should create a safety barrier along the strip of land between Old Kilcullen Road and William Nicol Drive to ensure vehicles don’t veer into traffic along William Nicol Drive.
He has undertaken to meet JPC before month end to apply for a lease and obtain a way leave. He added that the agency had committed to removing the rubble left on the site from the upgrade of Old Kilcullen Road by 14 August.
Spokesperson of the agency Bertha Peter-Scheepers said, “Mr Frank has agreed to appoint an engineer to carry out a land utilisation application. He has been made aware of the processes and procedures required in order for the City to ascertain the nature of the work to be carried out and implications on the local environment and traffic flow.”
Ward councillor David Potter said, “Whilst the intention and idea might be good, without the prior approvals of the City of Johannesburg what has been done and continues to be done remains a problem.”
Potter mentioned that the road shoulder was adequate before the ‘beautification’ and listed a number of issues that Peter’s work had caused. These included the dumping of building rubble on the site, the parking on city council land benefiting private property owners along Old Kilcullen Road, the unevenness of the beautification, and the legal ramifications for the City should an accident happen along this servitude, which has been altered without permission from the City, among other things.
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