Chapman’s Peak Estate and Cape Point Vineyards winery environmental concerns: update
Chapman’s Peak Estate
Residents have raised concerns about the kaolin mudslides (last winter) and dust storms (this summer and last week) emanating from the Chapman’s Peak Estate development managed by Amdec and work being done over some weekends. NRPA asked NEAG to take the lead in contacting provincial and municipal officials since this is their area of expertise. NRPA has been supporting NEAG in the background, keeping in touch with Amdec and advising residents on how to make their concerns heard. The work over the weekends stopped when NRPA raised them to Amdec management.
The latest communication from Amdec to NRPA was on 29/1/2024 when dust storms were blowing off the site again: “We are discussing solutions with our professionals including a repeat of the soil ‘binder’ chemical. Our focus is on the installation of the irrigation network. We will, in the interim, utilise the erf water supply to attach a hosepipe to spray down the sand. New vegetation will be planted as soon as reasonably and practically possible. This matter is receiving our attention and will be dealt with.”
Residents also complained to Amdec directly. To date, NRPA was copied in on many complaints to Amdec and we expect many more did so without copying us. To our knowledge, there has been little reply from Amdec directly to people who emailed them. While NRPA recognises the rights of property owners (in this case Amdec), we are firm believers that each building activity must happen within the law.
The concerns residents have are aligned with those of NRPA and NEAG. These are listed in the letter which NEAG sent to provincial and municipal authorities in February 4th (attached above), but in summary Amdec and its contractors did not follow the stringent conditions of the Environmental Management Plan (EMP). Tthe community is asking the authorities to enforce the EMP so that dust storms are avoided and mudslides will not occur in the upcoming winter. On February 22nd a reply from the provincial authorities came through. To our disappointment, the letter was thin on detail about how the authorities will ensure that dust storms, mudslides and other environmental issues will be prevented. NEAG is now in the process of seeking this clarity from authorities.
In parallel to this NRPA is of the opinion that dialogue between residents, developers, civics and authorities is essential. NRPA has suggested to Amdec to hold a community meeting where concerns can be addressed and discussed. Unfortunately, they have not followed our suggestion and instead pointed us to their environmental consultant Doug Jeffery Environmental Consultants. NRPA will continue to try and bring various stakeholders (public, developer, authorities, civics) together for constructive dialogue. Until that time residents can voice their concerns and complaints in writing to the environmental consultant Doug Jeffery (doug@dougjeff.co.za), copying in NRPA (info@nrpa.org.za) and NEAG (info@neag.org.za).
A separate issue that is receiving attention is that the stormwater drain coming off the Estate appears to be blocked at the point where it is coming out on the Common. This is something that must be addressed by Amdec before the upcoming winter rains.
Cape Point Vineyards Winery
In a separate instance, NEAG was alerted to a foul smell in the stream running over Noordhoek Common. An inspection together with City environmental officials concluded that this was coming from the CPV winery, located adjacent to Chapman’s Peak Estate.
It has since been confirmed that this is the result of the cleaning of grape presses, with organic waste flowing into the stormwater drains. While no chemicals were used and this has been a practice for many years, the winery management has received a formal notice. They have confirmed this discharge has stopped and that they are working on a structural solution.”