Ward councillors face the daunting task of identifying people to benefit from more than 2 000 houses on their way for Grahamstown residents, as plans for a new-style housing estate in Mayfield were finally approved this week.
Ward councillors face the daunting task of identifying people to benefit from more than 2 000 houses on their way for Grahamstown residents, as plans for a new-style housing estate in Mayfield were finally approved this week.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail on Tuesday, Executive Mayor, Zamuxolo Peter, said he was thrilled that the development – described by the department of human settlements as breaking new ground in housing delivery – was finally moving ahead. The plan envisages an integrated settlement, comprising different types of housing, as well as amenities such as schools and clinics. In the plans are sites for:
* 6 schools;
* 1 community hall;
* 2 heal care centres;
* 4 churches;
* 4 creches;
* 4 businesses;
* 21 open spaces.
The 2 220 residential units planned will include:
* 1 615 single-storey houses ("RDPs");
* 200 semi-detached houses;
* 129 apartments;
* 236 row houses;
* 40 middle-income homes.
The total number of units planned is 2 263. Peter said the plan had been revised to increase the number of residential units from 1 600. It was this approval they had been waiting for and pegging – the process of marking the ground and dividing the plot for erf numbers – would begin soon.
"The surveyor will come in to allocate the sites and start dealing with the infrastructure and roads," Peter said.
Meanwhile, through the ward councillors, the municipality will start identifying those to receive houses. While the new development is a drop in the ocean – Peter said the housing backlog six years ago, in 2005, was 12 000 – Mayfield was only the first of several housing developments in the pipeline.
