John Hesom, secretary of the Constantia Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association
The planning application for the proposed Shoprite Checkers shopping centre at the Ladies Mile/Spaanschemat River Road intersection was approved by the City of Cape Town in December 2016 and an appeal by the Constantia Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association (CRRA) was dismissed by mayor Patricia de Lille in June 2017.
The site development plan and building plans have not yet been approved, which means there is still an opportunity to change them.
On the strength of the results of an opinion poll conducted by the CRRA on its website in 2016, whereby 90% of participants (members and non-members) were opposed to the shopping centre, the CRRA has recently lodged a motion for the decision made by the City to be reviewed in the Western Cape High Court.
This will be a costly exercise, which will have to come from member donations, and so before we proceed, we need to get confirmation from members on how they feel about the proposed shopping centre and whether they agree with this court action.
Hence we are conducting a second opinion poll and hope to get a much larger number of participants.
In order to assist residents to come to an informed opinion, we have provided images of the proposed development, which will give them a good idea of what it will look like as currently proposed.
We have also done comparisons (areas, number of parking bays etc.) with other shopping centres in the area.
Visit the CRRA at www.crra.co.za
