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Wednesday 21 May 2014

Camps Bay bowling club fight rages on




Camps Bay Preparatory School has been successful in its application to use the adjacent property belonging to the Camps Bay Bowling Club.

Outraged members of the Camps Bay Bowling Club, which is almost 100 years old, say they will take the fight to keep their club to the high court if necessary.

The City of Cape Town's mayoral committee yesterday approved a recommendation to lease the council owned land in Victoria Road, Camps Bay, to the Western Cape Education Department.

The bowling club will be given three months' notice that its lease has been terminated, subsequent to the education department getting the necessary approvals to have the land rezoned for educational purposes. The recommendation goes to full council next week for a final decision.

Ian Neilson, the mayoral committee member for finance, said yesterday during the meeting that the city had, after talks with the department, accepted that Camps Bay Preparatory School needed additional space. 'Although the bowling club's lease is until 2018, the city may decide at any stage, with a three-month notice period, if the property is required for municipal or government purposes.'

Neilson said the city would agree to lease the land to the department and give it the authority to proceed with the relevant zoning applications. 'Once they get those we will enter into the lease with them and notify the bowling club.'
The lease, with a market-related rental of R18 810, would be for 10 years and would be non-renewable. Yesterday, a handful of the club's members who gathered in the club's bar spoke bitterly of the fight for the club. One said he was concerned about a 'hidden agenda' that was pushing for the school's expansion when there were other suitable sites in the area.

He said the nearby upmarket hotels would be unlikely to support a school and the noise it would create. None of the members wanted to be named. Club president Matthew Bater could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press. He had previously told the Cape Argus that the club buildings and hall had been constructed, financed and maintained by the members, not public funds. He said the city and Education Department had kept mum on what would happen after the 10-year lease expired.

'It is more than just a bowling club,' said one of Bater's fellow members. 'It's a place where the community comes together.' But for the Concerned Parents Group lobby, yesterday's recommendation suggests that victory is in sight after four years of negotiations and petitions for the land.

The group's Suzanne Maier said the decision suggested that the city had 'finally acknowledged the misallocation and abuse of land in Camps Bay and the need for education'. But, she said, it was too early to celebrate.

'The statutory processes, landuse applications and related studies will all take time while the facility could be serving more people than it currently is.' There were 87 objections to the initial proposal to lease the land to the school.

Cape Argus

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