High court orders company to clean up river

THE Western Cape High Court has ordered the developer of the Hout Bay Beach Club to remove the soil, general rubble and fill that was placed within the floodplain of the Disa River, within 45 days.

On February 2, the high court ordered Really Useful Investments, the developer of the beach club, to remove the material from the floodplain of the Disa River, dumped there in 2011.

Really Useful Investments started infilling part of the wetland and floodplain in order to develop its property, much to the ire of Hout Bay residents.

Brett Herron, mayco member for urban development and transport said although the land is privately owned, the court has found that infilling is in contravention of the City’s Stormwater Management by-law. Herron said in April 2011, the City served a notice of contravention of the Stormwater Management by-law on the developer.

“The City’s environmental management department followed this with a directive in terms of the Environment Conservation Act, which required that the fill material be removed from the floodplain. Although Really Useful Investments at first indicated that it would comply with the directive, by late 2012 only a part of the wetland had been restored and the fill material remained in stockpiles and spread out on the floodplain.” In 2014, the City commenced with court proceedings in an effort to force the company to comply fully with the notice and directive that had been served, while Really Useful Investments instituted its own court action to claim compensation, Herron said.

The compensation claim was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2015, he added. Efforts to contact the company proved futile.