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MUCH has been written over the last year concerning the dire need to develop some of, or sections of, Paarl's town
farms for residential purposes.
Pros have been weighed against cons, tempers have flared and subsided, hours are spent in discussions,
correspondence and surveys, and still nothing has happened to ease the difficult circumstances these Paarl property owners are in.
The rate of exchange is worse, weather conditions unfavourable, production and shipping costs up, and now to crown
it all, their fruit may be condemned for export due to the pollution of the irrigation water from the Berg River.
While more and more table-grape and wine farmers face bankruptcy due to the above, and overproduction world wide,
the commissions and public clamour for "tourism-friendly development" of these farms.
Get real, people, we are already over-supplied with this type of survival facility, some of which have also closed
down or are struggling to carry on because of lack of interest of tourists to spend money here.
Looking and enjoying the ambience and beauty of the vineyards in the town, does not put food on the table of the
farmers or the hundreds of labourers.
Hand-in-hand with the necessity to generate income from their heavily taxed properties filled with redundant
vines, there is a crucial shortage of residential properties and areas for possible development in Paarl, other than the farms.
Every week in the Paarl Post we read of new developments being approved in Simondium, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch
- everywhere except in Paarl. Schools and businesses suffer, Paarl stagnates, while other towns flourish.
Yes, thirty-three erven have been approved at Klein Parys, but who can walk from there to schools and shops?
Residential development should be encouraged within commutable distance from these amenities to lighten the
existing traffic congestion, which is at times unbearable and causes accidents.
Families are forced to own two cars due to our lack of public transport, and with the increased price of fuel, the
cost of living increases.
For goodness sake, wake up to reality, let the farmers who really want to farm, do so, whether by partial
development or whatever.
We hear about "Human Rights" all day, except for the rights of the town farmers of Paarl, at the expense of those
who want to reside in Paarl, but are driven elsewhere because of the narrowmindedness of town planners and government bodies who will not bend to change and need.
There are truly none so blind as those who do not want to see.
Double Trouble
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