TYGER VALLEY
Woensdag, 23 September 2020 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | e-pos: nuus@tygerburger.co.za
@TygerBurger
TygerBurger
NETWERK24. ALLES OP EEN PLEK.
Teken in by www.netwerk24.com.
DE BRON: TRAFFIC NOISE FROM JIP DE JAGER DISTURBS
Residents sick and tired ESMÉ ERASMUS
Oil threat? The beautiful Majik Forest in Bellville is possibly under threat due to a suspected oil spill into its river. The City of Cape Town is still waiting for test results, but suspects it could also be due to natural iron-oxidizing bacteria, which forms similar orange plumes and layers in springs. Read article on page 3. PHOTO: TARYNN BRESLER
De Bron residents with their backyards bordering on Jip de Jager extention complain of severe noise pollution day and night – however, to no avail, it seems. For several residents in Meerendal en Roozeboom streets – with the backyards of their houses merely 10 to 30 metres away from the road between Tygervalley Road and Van Riebeeckshof Road – lockdown brought relief of the traffic noise caused by speeding traffic. However, as lockdown was eased, their nightmare continued. Residents are upset that no noise impact study was done before the road was built, and that the City of Cape Town had no plans in place for measures to reduce noise levels. The residents reached out to the City and local councillor Andrea Crous to have a noise barrier wall erected or the speeding eased with traffic calming – some even spending money on a report by a sound engineer to support their case. Until June last year they were still under the impression that their plight has caught the City’s attention. Now, however, even after talks of money available for a wall, it seems the City and Crous is giving them the cold shoulder. The house of Nico Jordaan, a resident in Meerendal Street, is one of the houses closest to the road – in his case a mere 10 metres away. He paid a sound engineer in April 2019 to compile a noise report. In the report it was found that the noise exceeds the maximum allowable noise limit of 57 dBA at day, and 47 dBA at night. According to Jordaan the noise levels increased considerably since then. Also, after an inspection late 2018, the Ci-
ty’s health department found the noise levels at his house a “nuisance”. The health department visited Jordaan’s house on request of councillor Crouse after a visit to his house, Jordaan said. “Our living area is at the back. Our morning breakfasts are forever gone in summer due to traffic noise. Traffic starts at 05:00 and what amazes me, is the amount of heavy trucks using the road from very early in the morning, as well as late at night. “The road has become a race track for some motor cycles, and even on a Sunday we don’t have peace. “I would like to see the suggestions implemented as per the sound engineer’s report. City told me that they cannot erect the sound barrier just for us, as this would cause them to do this on the whole Jip de Jager. I think they have a responsibility towards their taxpayers. “Should I have to do another sound check, I am sure the results will be much worse than two years ago,” he said. According to him Crous mentioned in June last year that there is money available in the budget for a wall to be erected. “She asked us to wait until August so that the matter can be discussed at a meeting. After that she never answered any of my calls or emails again,” he said. Louis Laubscher, who lives in Roozeboom Street, said in the past two years he and his wife have been in contact with Crous on several occasions. “Each time we were assured that a plan was in the works to resolve the noise pollution. This has never materialized and our recent communications have started to fall on deaf ears,” he said. V To page 2.