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People’s Post
CLAREMONT
Standing up for trees NETTALIE VILJOEN NETTALIE.VILJOEN@MEDIA24.COM
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UCT takes on Cycle Tour Members of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Surgical Society, wearing their medical scrubs, participated in the Cape Town Cycle Tour on Sunday 8 March to raise funds for Operation Smile South Africa (Ossa). Pictured in the back row are Ashraf Moosa, Regan Boden, Imraan Majiet, Jack Oldham. In the front row stands Rene Zinn, Ismatou Balde, Savannah Verhage, Alana Williams. On the bicycle is Bianca Spies. Ossa, a global non-profit organisation, offers free cleft lip and cleft palette surgeries to vulnerable children and adults across southern Africa. The Scrubs Cycle has raised R48 000 so far, and their GivenGain profile is open for donation until end March. For more information, follow @uctscrubteam. PHOTO: KATELYN PYE
reeKeepers, a citizens’ organisation which promotes the conservation of trees in the urban forest, is raising the red flag on the impact property developments are having on our tree canopies. These past few years, in accordance with the City of Cape Town’s residential densification process, quite a few large erven in the southern suburbs have been subdivided into smaller erven or multi-unit sectional title developments. TreeKeepers was recently asked to investigate possible damage to a yellowwood tree located on the boundary of 3 Parry Road, Claremont. About a year ago, the densely wooded property was sold to Linear Developments which has since applied for the plot to be subdivided into five portions. According to an online property advertisement, the sizes of the erven are 748m², 430m², 268m², 242m² and 199m², respectively. According to information provided to People’s Post, the developer met with people in the neighbourhood prior to the start of the development. Reportedly, neighbours were assured at the meeting that the majority of the trees on the property, including a tall palm tree – considered a landmark in the area – would be retained. It has been claimed that although some trees were left, significant trees were removed, the palm tree being one of them. At the end of last year, the digging of trenches and the building of perimeter walls began on the property. A few weeks ago, two members of TreeKeepers – Henk Egberink and Heleen Louw – went to inspect a yellowwood tree growing on the property after having received information which claimed that workers were digging
trenches close to the protected tree and chopping into its root zone at its base. According to the National Forests Act 84 of 1998, section 15 1a, no person may cut, disturb, damage or destroy any protected tree, unless they apply for a permit from the City of Cape Town to do so. “Yellowwood trees fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF),” Egberink says. During the site visit, the TreeKeepers members took photographs of the tree and spoke to the director of Linear Developments, Di Paterson, and the builders. “I suggested the developer consult with one of our local top arborists, Francois Krige, on what could be done to safeguard the tree,” Egberink says. When People’s Post questioned Paterson on the matter, she said that while digging a trench, a root of the yellowwood tree had been accidentally nicked. “We stopped immediately. DAFF is coming to inspect on Monday (16 March), but it is a tiny nick and not a material transgression. We have also met with an arborist to clarify the law surrounding the maintenance of the tree, as well as an architect and an engineer to determine ways to bridge the tree’s roots,” she says. In an email sent to People’s Post on Monday 9 March, Paterson says: “We will need to apply for a permit to trim up to 25% of the canopy, most of which is dead wood.” Paterson states the idea that Linear Developments only agreed to meet with an arborist once the neighbours notified TreeKeepers is incorrect. She says developers are required by council to hire an arborist and to submit a tree survey at the beginning of the subdivision application process. “We engaged with an arborist in August 2018 to put together a tree survey to identify which trees were protected and which were invasive.” V Continued on page 4.
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