Thank you for downloading the latest newsletter and for perusing it. We wish to apologise for the late publication of this edition and urge you to keep in mind everyone on the BBRA Committee is a volunteer. They all have jobs, some as far afield as Cape Town, while others work from home; they have families, pets, projects and occupations that all vie for attention. Thank you for your patience.
Now let’s get to the business of the month. We encourage everyone who lives in Betty’s Bay (BB) to consider downloading the Overstrand Municipality’s (OM) new application, the Collab Citizen App. The App makes it much quicker and easier to report an issue. Many others and I have tried it out and we all agree: It works! To download the Collab Citizen App, go to your phone’s app store (Google Play Store, iOs App Store or Huawei App Gallery) and search for Collab Citizen App.
If you are concerned about this being a technicality beyond your expertise, fear not. We are planning a YouTube promo to show you step by step how to get started. We have no doubt you will not miss calling OM and reporting a problem “manually”.
You may have heard that a company called OpenServe Fibre is planning to install fibre in our village, and have dark visions of ugly poles and more cables going up to sully our lovely, unspoilt views. It has been confirmed officially that no wayleaves will be issued that allow additional poles to be planted along our roads. If OpenServe cannot hang cables from existing poles, they have to place them underground.
It is important for us as locals – both permanent and otherwise – to know what is happening locally. The best way to stay informed is to visit OM’s website. Notices, agendas, and minutes of portfolio committee meetings are all available on this website. Several new policies have recently been passed, including the CCTV, Tiny House, and Slipway policies. The new Protection Services Policy is on one of the agendas. We will keep you abreast of developments but remember the OM website.
We trust you are happy to hear that Cllr Theresa Els spotted an application for deregistration of the slipways at Kleinmond Harbour and Hangklip (Maasbaai). She quickly lodged an objection. We owe Theresa a debt of gratitude for being so eagle-eyed and quick to take action.
Something you may have noticed, which we wish to assure you we have also noticed, is that people have started cutting wood on the koppie in the small hours of the morning, and also on the dunes later in the day, neither of which which is allowed. Steps are being taken to prevent this in the future. If you spot anything of this nature, please contact us, or report the matter to OM and get a reference number.
Friends and neighbours, if you see that a plot is being stripped of all its indigenous vegetation, please call the BB Conservancy and/or the Botanical Society (BotSoc). Did you know that most stripped plots never recover or recover only in part? We live here because it is the most beautiful, wild natural environment. Let’s look after it. Cut back, do not strip!
We want to convey warm words of appreciation to Rob Boyd for all his hard work to resolve the many and varied problems relating to roads in BB. And to Graeme McGill, a special word of thanks for going the extra mile towards resolving our water and pipe problems. We are fortunate to have professionally qualified engineers with high levels of expertise fully engaged in village matters that are of key importance here in BB.