Why council rejected Mediclinic’s preferred location

The George Municipality issued the following statement regarding news reports that appeared over the past few months on the relocation of the George Mediclinic.

The biggest challenge for the Mediclinic group was to find suitable land for the relocation of their facility. When the

George Municipality became aware that the Mediclinic wanted to relocate, it advised that the development proposal was in opposition to the development framework of George. In fact, this information was already shared with the Mediclinic group in 2015. It can be mentioned that the recent application on erven 25538 and 25541 was not only for a hospital, but would have resulted in the expansion of the urban development edge to add a further 29 hectares to the spatial budget over the medium term, of which the hospital would take up only 5,4 hectares. Over the short term, the proposed development would have accommodated about 1,6 hectares for business use and over the medium term, another hotel and conference facilities, education, and production. This proposal would have brought about a new node that would have had an effect on existing nodes, namely the Meander node and the central business district, since adequate, serviced property is still available within the impact sphere of the aforementioned nodes.

The range of facilities as proposed on erven 25538 and 25541 can therefore be accommodated within the urban edge without undermining the vitality of the existing investments. The proposal was therefore not considered compatible with the values and goals of the George spatial development framework. In terms of the act on spatial planning and land management, the decision maker is not authorised to support a development proposal that does not confirm the development trajectory and strategic outcomes of the spatial development framework. The executive mayor has stated unequivocally that he wants to see the relocation of the Mediclinic in George become a reality, without disadvantaging rights and compromising municipal by-laws or ordinances in the process.

George Municipality is in the process of reviewing the development framework and the process will be finalised by the end of March 2018.

Visit www.georgeherald.com for further background on the motivations behind decisions taken by the George planning department.