Legal battle erupts over Sea Point flats as residents fight back
Residents of Sea Point are challenging the construction of a new block of flats, citing concerns over legal compliance.
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Residents have launched a legal challenge against the development of a block of flats in Sea Point, which was previously upheld by City Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
The City has now confirmed that the development along 29 & 31 St John’s Road in Sea Point is being constructed legally following an approval, unless set aside before the court. Buildings previously at the sites were older than sixty years old. The City said it acknowledged that the matter was before the Western Cape High Court.
The residents formed a crowdfunding campaign for their legal plight under the banner of Save Our Sea Point (SOS) Residents Association and served papers against the developers on April 15, whose names are known to the Cape Argus.
“This action included a notification to the developer, requesting a cessation of construction works pending the judgment of an expedited review. The association has requested this review to be heard on June 11th,” said Lindsay Rogers on behalf of SOS.
However, Eddie Andrews, the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayco Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, said their office could not divulge any information about the matter before court but reiterated that the construction was legal.
“The City confirms that the developer is constructing in accordance with building plans that were lawfully approved by the City and remain valid unless and until set aside by a court,” said Andrews in response to the Cape Argus. “The approved plans relate to development on two separate, unconsolidated properties, and consolidation approval was not required for those approvals. The appeal decision referred to by the residents’ association dealt only with an application for consolidation and does not affect the validity of the approved building plans. As the matter is currently before the High Court, in which the City is cited as a respondent, the City cannot comment further at this stage.”
Cape Argus has since approached the developer for comment on the latest action and has yet to receive a response. Rogers added they had approached the Mayor’s office with their concerns, calling for its further input.
“For our part, given that we are pursuing that the mayor's findings in his appeal report are enforced, by having designers and developers work within the parameters of the City's existing restrictions and regulations, we have written to the mayoral office to invite the City to offer its participation to join with us as a co-applicant in the High Court case review,” he said.
“Ours now is the quintessential scenario of beleaguered area residents, having had their rights ignored by the City, being left with the responsibility of fighting an expensive court case on behalf of the whole community against wealthy and ruthless property developers, whose immediate response to being challenged is not to arbitrate to appease the surrounding communities amongst which they seek to work, but to threaten to sue everybody for everything we've got. By their own declaration, they wish to destroy us personally. We, in turn, seek the support of the City to join with the SOS Residents Association as co-applicants against the errant developers in order to have the current building plans, for which approval was erroneously granted, set aside.”
“The mayor’s decision to uphold the appeal was based primarily on the contravention of the City’s own Development Management Scheme (DMS) set-back criteria for building lines. The structure was proposed to have been set back just 1.68m from the shared common boundary at the rear of the site for the full 15m height of the building, instead of the requisite 4.5m as per the DMS.”
Cape Argus earlier reported that the final appeal notification, received December 12 2025, stated the appeal was upheld and the application refused, concluding the process. Hill-Lewis, the final appeal authority, upheld the residents' appeal, overturning the Municipal Planning Tribunal (MPT) decision.
Earlier, City Spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo confirmed the Mayor's determination to uphold the appeal while residents expressed relief, confirming the City formally notified them that their appeal against the proposed flats at 29 & 31 St. Johns Rd. was upheld, setting aside the original MPT approval and refusing the application.