Residents petition City over cluster housing policy

Talent Gore

Harare residents have petitioned the City of Harare over the formulation of the cluster housing policy after the council-organised consultative meeting on the issue.

The residents say they have been rejecting the development of cluster houses since December last year arguing that densification in existing suburbs promotes the development of cluster houses without upgrading the existing infrastructure.

Wards 17 and 19 cover Mount Pleasant, Groombridge, Arundel, Northwood, Vainona, Pomona, Avondale, parts of Mabelreign, and surrounding suburbs.

In a petition dated August 18, 2024, and addressed to the town clerk, the residents said the City of Harare must explain why they were carrying out the consultative meeting as they were concerned that it was just a mere “tick-box” exercise.

They said despite alerting the municipality about their concerns at previous meetings, they have observed council has continued to approve several new cluster developments in Wards 17 and 19 without taking into account the residents’ misgivings.

“As residents, we are therefore suspicious that this is just another ‘tick-box’ exercise for HCC (Harare City Council) to be able to record that they have consulted with residents but they will just continue with the adoption and implementation of a policy which does not take into account our concerns,” reads the petition.

“There are rules and regulations as stipulated in the relevant statutes and legislation that need to be adhered to when public/Government or private developers build new cluster houses, some of which are included in the Regional Town and Country Planning Act (RTCP Act), Chapter 29:12 of 1976; the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15); the Housing and Building Act (Chapter 22:07).

“They interact with the other sector-specific statutes and legislation for roads, water, building by-laws among others.

“As ratepayers and residents, we are concerned at the manner in which HCC has continued to recklessly approve densification and cluster developments with no guidelines and no concern for, or interests, on behalf of residents on the character of our suburbs, sewer lines, water, boreholes, roads, amenities, noise pollution, and crime. We recommend that HCC must include the views of current ratepayers and residents.”

The residents said the City of Harare must upgrade existing infrastructure, come up with a moratorium on approvals for cluster developments, and develop guidelines on the types of existing roads where clusters can be built.

They also recommended that council include a moratorium on change of use applications, increase scrutiny of change-of-use applications, and change the way the municipality advertises change-of-use applications.

“As ratepayers and residents, we also request that every change of use application should not just be published in The Herald or another newspaper,” the residents said.

“We request that these are uploaded to an online accessible council site as well as the WhatsApp forums of ratepayers and residents’ associations.”