eThekwini councillors adopted a new Development Facilitation Table for a new zone, to be known as a special zone: Clairwood Logistics Park, sparking concerns over local traffic and environmental impacts.

The Clairwood logistics park and the adoption of a master plan were brought to the eThekwini council on Wednesday.

The municipality stated that the proposed new special zone, together with the Clairwood Master Plan, will assist the decision-maker when applications for Clairwood are lodged for consideration by the municipality. 

This is in line with a council decision in 2014, which adopted the Local Area Plan, which directed that Clairwood be a logistics hub. The municipality stated that Clairwood is strategically positioned to evolve into a logistics park.

The municipality stated that constraints for its evolving into a logistics park include sites being too small for industrial use or logistics use, blocks being too small, roads being too narrow to accommodate logistics traffic, and a mix of residential and incompatible uses currently existing. 

The metro added that for a logistics park to be created, the existing Clairwood would have to be redesigned.

According to the report, all places of worship, cemeteries, heritage buildings, and an underground gas pipeline have been considered in the new proposal.

Saul Basckin, ActionSA eThekwini councillor, said he objected to the proposed development because the residents of Bluff face gridlock, delays in traffic, and danger from lengthy trucks on Solomon Mahlangu Drive.

Basckin suggested that if a development takes place, the following should be considered:

•  A dedicated M4 flyover. 
• A full upgrade of Solomon Mahlangu Drive. 
• 24/7 metro police enforcement and strict truck regulation. 
• Formal community oversight. 

Basckin also mentioned in council that the site also lies on wetlands and a flood line, raising risks of flooding and pollution. 

“This is about protecting people over profit,” he said. 

Councillor Sunitha Maharaj of the Minority Front said that Clairwood was degraded by decades-long industrialisation. 

“Whatever green lung it has left to make the place aesthetically pleasing and to filter the high levels of pollution may be gone when this logistics park is put up, and the trucks will compound the air and noise pollution,” she said. 

Maharaj added that no matter what eThekweni says to allay the people’s fears, the people are not convinced. She said this development will happen.

She suggested that trucking companies that occupy large tracts of land in Clairwood consider corporate social responsibility to assist in revamping the community’s suburban area to its former glory.

“It is simply a goodwill gesture to alleviate neighbouring community concerns. Currently, they are frustrated with the proposed development,” she said.

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za  

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