Mushrooming blocks of flats and commercial creep in Wynberg Village threaten the historical fabric of the heritage-rich area, says a civic group.
Bordered by Wellington Avenue and Riverstone, Wynberg Main, Constantia Main, Durban and Waterloo roads, Wynberg Village has a rich architectural heritage with buildings well over 60 years old, says Phillippa Duncan, an executive member of the Wynberg Residents and Ratepayers Association.
The suburb’s strong historical fabric, central location, proximity to schools and smaller properties compared to upper Wynberg have made it an attractive and affordable choice for buyers with young families, she says.
“However, if you look at the new developments that have happened within the last eight years there’ve been a number of highly contested, high-density developments that have taken place against often robust arguments from the surrounding residents.”
The Aldro on Wellington Avenue, 21 on Wellington Road and 1 Malton Road are examples, she says, of developments that overshadow nearby single storey cottages.
And the densification doesn’t look like it will be easing up with off-plan sales launched at the end of June for The Nova by developers Karma Properties. The four-storey block of 14 flats with a rooftop pool and braai area will replace two single-storey homes in Vriedenhof Street.
Meanwhile, Karma Properties is also planning The Wellington, a four-storey block with 11 flats and a rooftop deck, on Wellington Avenue. A sale launch date has not yet been announced.
Ms Duncan said such developments were out of character for the area.
“With four-floored apartment buildings on residents’ boundary walls, there’s no sunlight, no privacy and the value in their property changes. Essentially residents’ only option is to sell to a developer in order to see the value back in their property.”
Earlier this year, the WRRA established a heritage and planning subcommittee to oversee building applications on behalf of the association.
Sitting on the committee with Ms Duncan are Jane Mervis, from the Old Wynberg Village Society; Jacqui Marais, a heritage professional with 38 years of experience; and Simon Mountford, an architect.
They are working on extending the heritage protection overlay zone that covers Chelsea Village to include the rest of Wynberg Village, and they will also be checking zoning compliance by businesses in the village.
“There are far too many illegally run businesses within the Chelsea Village area and more of it is becoming business. It was never designed to be a business district; it was designed to be a protected heritage zone, where you could have small cottage industries. That’s also why we don’t want to see this area of Wynberg suddenly becoming one massive industrial/business area because the existing infrastructure will not cope,” Ms Duncan said.
Mayoral committee member for spatial planning and the environment Eddie Andrews said a building plan for The Nova block of flats was approved in 2021 for 4 and 6 Vriedenhof Road.
“There was no advertising of this development as there was no land use application, meaning, the developer did not need to ask for additional development rights as the development complied with the zoning of the land parcels. Building plan applications do not get advertised but are assessed by the City’s development management department for compliance with the National Building Regulations. The erven are all zoned General Residential Subzone GR4, which permit flats as a primary right.”
Mr Andrews said 4 and 6 Vriedenhof Road were in a development corridor within which high levels of densification were promoted.
“It is not clear how old the buildings on 4 and 6 Vriedenhof Road are. Any demolition of or changes to buildings that exceed 60 years of age need a permit from Heritage Western Cape in terms of Section 34 of the National Heritage Resources Act,” he said.
Karma Properties did not respond to questions by time of publication.
