An evaluation of the applicability of conditions granted for approvals of special consent applications for various land uses within the eThekwini Municipality.

Abstract

Land use management and development control play an important role in achieving integration and sustainability in developing societies such as South Africa today. Town Planning Schemes are generally used as a tool for achieving this by making provision for land uses that are freely permitted, permitted by special consent or prohibited, thereby ensuring that incompatible land uses are not allowed. However, these town planning schemes are interpreted by different officials, with different levels of planning experience and qualification, as well as different opinions in the interpretation, which can result in inconsistency in decision-making and subsequent development patterns. The aim of this dissertation is therefore to investigate a range of special consent applications, the decision-making process applied to them and the applicability of any conditions attached thereto. The spatial focus of this dissertation is the South Municipal Planning Region of the Ethekwini Municipality which was established during the 2000 demarcation process. Inherent is this amalgamation is the fact that there are now thirty eight different town planning schemes in the Municipal area, with nine of them found in the South Municipal Planning Region.