It’s all systems go for the establishment of a Municipal Planning Tribunal in the City of Cape Town following an approval by the Council on Tuesday.

In anticipation of the implementation of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA), the City earlier this year adopted the Municipal Planning By-law after an extensive participation process involving broad discussion and valuable public input. 

The City’s Municipal Planning By-Law will be implemented from 1 July 2015, at the same time SPLUMA comes into effect.

The new by-law will change the city’s planning and development regulatory environment. According to the City of Cape Town Increased transparency and public involvement lies at its heart and provision is made for the establishment of a municipal planning tribunal which will be responsible for taking decisions on specific categories of planning application in future.

“The Municipal Planning Tribunal consists of highly experienced public and private sector planning professionals,” says Johan van der Merwe, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Environmental and Spatial Planning.

“A call for nominations went out in March and a rigorous evaluation process followed. A strict code of conduct has also been established for tribunal members,” he adds.

Municipal planning matters are the responsibility of local government

To date, municipalities throughout the country have dealt with planning matters in terms of various old-order planning ordinances and acts, some dating back as far as the 1970s and 1980s.

The Constitution however asserts that municipal planning matters are the responsibility of local government. This means that a municipality has to legislate and adopt by-laws to regulate municipal planning matters.

“The new by-law allows the City to consider all planning applications within a locally suited context. This will also impact on spatial planning procedures and enforcement mechanisms,” explains Van der Merwe

“We believe that the innovative systems built into the by-law will reduce red tape, increase public involvement in the processes, and enable more responsive development regulation, thereby unlocking investment and job creation,” he concludes.