Boost as Bo-Kaap area receives urban conservation nod

THE Bo-Kaap’s Schotsche Kloof area received the nod for classification as an urban conservation area at the subcouncil 16 meeting held yesterday in the City.

Ward councillor Dave Bryant said the call to declare the Schotsche Kloof area had been his priority for the part of the Bo-Kaap that was frequented by tourists and widely used in adverts and film shoots.

The area would be designated as a heritage protection overlay zone in terms of the zoning scheme regulations to provide formal protection to buildings and recognise the area’s heritage which spans over 200 years.

“Currently there is a degree of protection that exists. Older parts of Bo-Kaap are mainly found in the lower area, which the community fought to protect. This includes all elements, including the architecture to the cobble streets found in the lower Bo-Kaap area,” he said.

Bryant said despite concerns from the community regarding the potential impact new developments would have in the BoKaap, most developers were sensitive to the area’s architectural heritage.

“After today, the process will go into the next phase that includes public participation,” he said. Bryant said this was especially important when stipu- lating which areas would be deemed as heritage protected areas. The heritage committee of the Bo-Kaap Civic Association had worked closely with the environmental resource management department to develop a conservation management plan that would form part of the designation of the heritage protection overlay zone.

Civic association chairperson, Osman Shaboodien, said Schotsche Kloof’s classification as an urban conservation area came after much pressure was put on the City.

The challenges that lay ahead would be in specifying what the declaration would entail.

“We are seeing proposals for new developments in Strand Street for monstrosities. We would prefer a freeze of all future building developments until the criteria is decided,” Shaboodien added.