During this past month, the Policy for Creating and maintaining fire wise vacant erven in urban and suburban areas of the Overstrand Municipality was yet again opened up for public comment.
The Conservation (flora) portfolio submitted feedback on the policy as well as on the Notice that the Overstrand Municipality sends to property owners to advise them whether their vacant erf is considered as posing a fire risk. This Notice is also sent to property owners who are in the process of selling a vacant erf.
One concern is that the title and wording in this notice repeatedly refers to “clear the property” and thereby tends to create the incorrect impression that the property owner must CLEAR the property, as in the photos below.
Heading the notice are the words “Notice to clear a property creating a fire hazard”; “You are required to clear and maintain your property”; Should you decide to clear the plot yourself…”; “you undertake to clear the premises before the compliance date”; Guidelines for cleaning of property”; “If the Municipality has to clear the plot, it will be over and above the actual cleaning cost…”
Misinterpretation of this Notice could result in an owner stripping their erf of ALL vegetation. This is NOT the requirement of the Fire Wise Vacant Erf policy. It is NOT an instruction to bulldoze the erf into a sandpit.
May 2021: This erf is still vacant as at March 2022 although patches of the vegetation has recovered.
A recently cleared plot shows the utter devastation it wrought.
One suggestion is that the wording “clear the plot” should rather be replaced with the words “reduce the fire risk”. This would help to keep the Notice in line with the name and motivation of the policy as well as to make it clearer that denuding the erf of all the vegetation and wildlife habitat , leaving it totally barren, is not the aim, especially in our Biosphere-bordered Villages.
Note that the policy states: Only manual clearing methods shall be used for reducing fire hazards in areas proclaimed as protected. Manual clearing is done using hand tools such as bow-saws, pruning scissors, motor-operated hand-held chain saws or motor-operated hand -held brush cutters.
Should you receive such a notice, we advise you to use one of the local contractors who are experienced in reducing the fire risk on erfs within the Biosphere in an environmentally appropriate way, as opposed to the unnecessary destruction seen in these photos.