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July 2023
One of our goals for this year is to revisit our website, looking for opportunities to improve usability, to add more content and to add more functionality.
We are very happy to report that the new site is up and running!
We are now better able to track which topics are of interest to our readers, we can more easily and quickly send out email notifications, such as for the Messenger, we can store a history of communications with our members, we can provide an “Unsubscribe” button which we did not have before, and much more.
We are sincerely grateful to local residents Daryn and Fred Wickham-Basson for all of their assistance in making this happen. They not only built the website on a new platform, they also highlighted opportunities, shared ideas, remained patient, and persevered in guiding us through this process. And continue to do so! They have provided their time, energy and expertise at no cost to the PBRA. They wanted this to be their contribution to the community. Thank you, both, very much.
Tweaking and improving of the new site is ongoing, so if you do spot a gremlin that we may have missed, or you have a suggestion for an enhancement, we’d appreciate it if you could bring it to our attention, by dropping a note to secretary@pringlebayratepayers.co.za .
A motion was filed with the High Court on Friday 14 July 2023 by Friends of Rooi Els (FOR), Hangklip Environmental Action Group (HEAG), and the Pringle Bay Ratepayers’ Association (PBRA) to have the approval granted by the Overstrand Municipality (OM) of a distillery on Portion 141 as an agricultural industry, reviewed and set aside, and have it declared as being an industrial use in terms of the zoning scheme regulations.
The development of a distillery on portion 141 has been of concern since 2021. Discussions and a survey conducted by both the PBRA and Rooi Els Ratepayers’ Association (RERA) confirmed that residents in both villages were opposed to this development, with a few in favour of it. This was borne out by the number of objections versus the letters of support received when the PBRA first lodged its objection with the OM. The OM approved the application, and in 2022, FOR, RERA Exco and the PBRA filed appeals against the approval issued by the OM, citing, among other concerns, that a distillery is an industrial development in an agricultural zone, which would create potential precedents for future developments between Rooi Els and Pringle Bay.
The 2022 appeals were rejected by the OM in early 2023. The OM Appeal Authority did not provide independent reasons for the decision, merely confirming the reasons offered by the OM Municipal Planning Tribunal. The PBRA and FOR/RERA formally requested that the OM provide reasons and relevant information, in order to be able to better assess the situation and potentially advise its members. The lack of information and reasoning provided by the OM is the main subject of the court application filed by the PBRA with others. This application was not undertaken lightly, and follows a number of attempts to obtain the relevant information, including at Provincial level.
A significant amount of the work relating to this case has been conducted pro bono, and certain direct costs have been funded and shared by the three applicants through private funding, and the Conservation Fund managed by the PBRA, as mandated by its members. The respondents have 15 days within which to file the record of the decision, and to provide written reasons for the decision. The PBRA will continue to update members and residents as and when applicable.
You may have noticed that the wall and the Security Hut at the entrance to the village have undergone a facelift, with cracks filled, much needed fresh paint applied, peeling fascia boards repaired, and the two LPR camera poles given a necessary makeover.
It was difficult to find a window in the relentless wet weather, but Tony Helmbold and his crew from TH Painters got the job done and delivered quality work – as usual! Thank you, Tony.
And thank you to everyone who donates to our PBRA voluntary funds. It is entirely thanks to your generous contributions that we are able to take on these sorts of initiatives, to the benefit of the whole community.
You can read about our voluntary funds and how to make a donation. We welcome all contributions, no amount too small.
The Hangklip Community Care Centre (HCCC) is a fully independent, registered NPO, which operates from Betty’s Bay. Their vision is “for the Hangklip community (residents of Betty’s Bay, Pringle Bay and Rooi Els) to be one in which there is mutual caring for one another, and in which problems of inadequate nutrition, loneliness, infirmity, neglect, etc., are effectively addressed.”
They facilitate a range of services to the community, assisted by a large team of dedicated, community-based volunteers. Their services include nutritious affordable meals, food parcels disseminated free of charge, loan of medical equipment, and opportunities for group activities.
They also provide services more directly concerned with home-based care and support through which residents with diminished capacity to care for themselves, or inability to function with full independence, can be assisted to continue living in their own homes.
To find out more about this organisation which does such valuable work, we’ve attached their latest newsletter which includes contact details.
The contractor has completed the Phase 2 deliverables of the water reticulation replacement project for Pringle Bay. There is a small percentage of the system still to be replaced and this will be addressed by Overstrand Municipality (OM) as Phase 3, at a future stage.
We want to thank OM for giving this project a high priority, for setting the budget aside and for getting this much needed job done! Pipe bursts in the village have virtually completely stopped.
The contractor will retain their operating base located between the Community Hall and the Fire Station, while they continue their work in Betty’s Bay.
The Overstrand Municipality’s Media office regularly publishes informative news releases on subjects ranging from road closures, planned events, conservation activities, protest action warnings, by-law enforcement, municipal public meetings, waste management education, to voter information…. and more.
We share some of the key news on our PBRA Facebook page or in the Messenger (depending on the time sensitivity) but it’s not possible to cover all of the media releases. Councillor Theresa Els also shares some of the news to her Overstrand Ward 10 WhatsApp group.
If you want to stay current with respect to municipal activities and communications, we recommend that you bookmark their website Overstrand Media and check in on a regular basis, or follow them on Overstrand Facebook .
There was very good attendance of the public portion of the Ward 10 Committee Meeting held in our Community Hall on July 18th. We were really pleased to see residents making use of the opportunity to address issues directly with the responsible municipal officials and engaging in lively and frank conversation. Thank you to everyone who took time out in cold and wet weather to be there.
Our Ward Councillor, Theresa Els, was on leave, a colleague facilitated the meeting in her absence.
Some of the topics raised by attendees were:
Plans for repair of water damage caused by the floods ; Storm water management and prevention ; Policy and schedule for clearing of overgrown roadside culverts ; Manner in which the roads are being graded, lack of training of the grader operator ; Structure of the municipal organisation not supporting service delivery as a top priority ; Clearance of road verges which are a fire hazard ; General road maintenance and repair.
Residents with engineering backgrounds offered their assistance to the municipality with respect to the planning and management of road repairs and maintenance, which was gratefully accepted. If you have expertise in this field and would like to assist, please contact Bertie Vorster (Vice-Chair) on 082 593 1575.
We want to express our appreciation to Vicky Kotze (BBB Gardens) for offering her services to help keep one of our green spaces looking its best.
As you enter the village, just after the dump entrance, on the lefthand side of Hangklip Road, is a fynbos garden which was created by Pringle community members many years ago. It is municipal property and over the years it became neglected and invaded by alien vegetation. In recent times it has been cleared and revived to its former pristine fynbos state, thanks mainly to the efforts of Nicolette Louw, with support from Vicky.
On a monthly basis Vicky’s team will visit the garden, clear aliens and dead vegetation and keep it looking attractive, at no charge to Pringle Bay. Thank you so much!
(The path to this garden leads from the dump parking area)
As reported in our earlier Pringle Messengers, Overstrand Municipality’s (OM) existing Baboon Management Programme expired at the end of June 2023. OM advertised a new tender in March 2023 with a closing date of April 26 2023.
On the 29th June 2023 OM reported that no successful bids were received and that they cancelled the Baboon Management Tender for the 2023/24 financial year. The contract of the current service provider, Human Wildlife Solutions, was extended until December 2024 for the Hermanus area.
For Pringle, Betty’s and Kleinmond, OM will take ownership of the baboon management programme themselves. We will therefore continue to see the deployment of the Eco-Rangers in the village going forward. They are the people with the vuvuzelas and the red flag warning system. According to OM, “The approach will be to steer the baboons out of the urban area, with the focus on the current Early Warning System, and also waste management and public education.” It has been confirmed by OM that residents can request the Eco-Rangers’ help in getting baboons out of their houses and that they will provide that assistance when asked by the resident.
OM will be employing additional staff for the baboon management programme. The team operating in Pringle Bay will consist of 1 Area Manager, 3 Supervisors and 12 Eco-Rangers. The staff are currently undergoing training and they’ll work in 2 shifts once fully deployed. Their winter hours will be 7am to 6pm, summer hours will be 7am to 7pm.
The online version of the latest Pringle Post is now available for you to enjoy.
If you prefer a printed version, there are still a few copies in our Pringle stores. Why not buy one for your friends or place a couple in your guesthouse? Visitors as well as residents find them interesting, and, the Post showcases a number of our local businesses. Still only R15 per copy!
Join the Pringle Bay Knitwits of 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day charity, and celebrate International Granny Square day at Menucha! Bring a square – size 20cm x 20cm – any colour any wool – and join the fun. All squares will be combined into blankets by the Knitwits and given to charity. If you can’t knit or crochet – they’ll teach you!
Menucha – on Tuesday August 15th 2023 – from 10am to noon.
GRANNY SQUARE, the puppet, will be there too, she just loves to chat & teach. For more information, call Gaenor on 083 289 1707.
(The Knitwits consist of a group of passionate Pringle Bay residents who meet on a regular basis and through their crafting talents and efforts create beautiful items for charity)
“Thanks very much for a very informative and helpful newsletter. The Eskom info is particularly helpful.”
“The work being done on the Strategic Framework is amazing! A lot of work has gone into the first part and I found out quite a lot more about PB than I knew before. Heavy reading but worth it!”
“Wonderful. Thank you”
The PBRA is facilitating the creation of a Strategic Framework for the development of Pringle Bay into the future – looking to 2050 and beyond (we changed the date from 2040 to 2050 to match the time frame of the Overstrand Municipality in its spatial planning). Good progress is being made with this development as is reported below.
The project was announced in the February 2023 Pringle Messenger and regular updates have been given in later editions of the Messenger and on the PBRA Facebook page.
The approach to the project is to blend sound and independent professional input with input from the community. A professional service provider (UrbaniQ and other) was therefore appointed to assist in the development of the project in the first half of 2023. Public participation in the process has started but will intensify during the second half of the year.
The purpose of the project is for us as the Pringle Bay community to prepare ourselves to give informed and effective input into the planning processes of various stakeholders affecting the future of Pringle Bay. Clearly the main municipal process in this regard is the review of the Overstrand Spatial Framework and associated IDP which is scheduled to take place in 2024. This framework is used to drive virtually all the municipal budgets into the future. It is also important for Pringle Bay to develop its own vision of cooperation and self-sufficiency in respect of services provided by the same or other stakeholders in fields not necessarily included in the SDF (i.e. electricity, water, roads, environment etc.) and to interact with these stakeholders on this vision.
The first part of the project – to work with our external service providers (urban planning consultants) to develop a draft strategy – is now well advanced. The first report of the service providers “Part 1: Current realities in Pringle Bay” was completed in June and made available via as link to interested parties in the Messenger message of June. Feedback received from this post was that the comprehensiveness of the report was a surprise. The second report “Part 2: Strategy for Pringle Bay” is now in the preparation phase and will contain proposals on the strategy for the future. This will be followed by “Part 3: Development Frameworks” which will contain detailed aspects to be taken forward. An initial version of Part 2 was presented to the project Steering Committee, and we are excited by what we saw. These reports and a summary should be completed in August and will then be used in a public participation process set out in the diagram below.
We are very fortunate to have the use of a recycling drop off facility at our Pringle Bay waste station. A couple of years ago the PBRA took the initiative and funded the building of the facility as it became very clear that many residents are environmentally aware and would make use of such a service.
Our village population is growing and the facility is now even more heavily used. During long weekends and holidays visitors add to the volume. We therefore want to remind users of the following recycling guidelines for the benefit of all users, as well as for the people who sort the recyclables at the end of the day:
Be careful when driving in the dump premises. Recently someone drove into the cage, badly damaging the gate and one side of the cage. Avoid blocking the entrance, rather pull in further to not cause an obstruction while you offload.
This facility exists because community members donated to our funds; please use it with the pride and respect it deserves. We will take action if we find anyone vandalising or misusing it. Thank you for your cooperation.
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