You’ve scraped together your life savings to buy a farm just an hour’s drive outside of Cape Town, nestled in the foothills of the Paardeberg mountains. You’ve joined a community of farmers who revel in the peace and quiet, the sedate, unhurried lifestyle that brings one close to nature and to what matters in life. You’ve an enviable lifestyle, and friends and family head off to join you over weekends, only too glad of a space in which to rejuvenate.

And then someone comes up with a marvellous idea that puts paid to your gentle way of life. They propose an aviation estate just outside the nearest town for leisure flying enthusiasts.

Sound like a bit of a mare? An aviation estate (let’s call it what it is – an airport for light aircraft) has been proposed for just outside Malmesbury... The intention is to have 371 erven and further hangars for hire. Translated that means at least 371 aeroplanes, helicopters, gyrocopters etc. continuously landing and taking off alongside the R302 south of Malmesbury en route to Klipheuwel. This delightful prospect will include a 1.2 kilometre runway, helicopter pads and landing sites, fuel storage facilities, filling stations, control towers and other buildings, as well as large swathes of grassed areas.

The proposed ‘estate’ (something of a euphemism along the lines of golf ‘estates’) not only affects nearby farms and those on the Paardeberg mountains (imagine hiking through pristine fynbos constantly subjected to the whirr and whine of ‘leisure planes’?) but also everyone in Malmesbury, Abbotsdale, Tierfonteinon, Chatsworth, Kalbaskral and Riverlands. It also affects all further areas of the region which are within easy distance for flying jaunts. This includes in particular, Riebeeksrivier, the Riebeek Valley and Wellington, but also Darling, Mooreesburg/Koringberg, Yzerfontein, Hopefield, Langebaan and Velddrig.

And there are some very real concerns expressed by those affected:

• Most alarming and affecting most people in the widest area is the noise that hundreds of planes and copters will generate in our skies, not only at weekends, but also weekdays, as many flying enthusiasts are semi-retired or retired. People are realising that for all of us in the greater region of Malmesbury, should this estate go through, our lives will never be the same again, and that whine and rotor noise would be unrelenting and inescapable outdoors and indoors. Related concerns are of the visual impact of high numbers of planes in our quiet country skies.
• Concern was expressed about the fact that the 2.1 km runway is longer than it need be for light planes, suggesting the possibility of private jet engine use in the future.
• Agricultural consequences within a number of kms of the estate are feared for farming based on animal husbandry such as dairy and sheep farming, as well as those who farm and keep horses. Beekeeping may also be under threat.
• At an environmental level, concern is for most precious resource - namely water especially within a context of serious drought predictions for the Western Cape. No amount of water saving on the estate will mitigate this.
• Further, the estate severely threatens the Paardeberg, where biodiversity areas and nature reserves are now being put in place by Cape Nature Conservation. This is to protect one of the last remaining natural wild areas in the Western Cape, and particularly those close to Cape Town. Part of the reason for this protection is so that people can enjoy pristine nature of which silence (other than natural sound) is crucial. The shattering of this stillness will mean that visitors will keep away and developments such as hiking trails etc will not be feasible.
• Concerns were raised this development contradicts fundamental aims of the Cape West Coast Biosphere which is one of 4 in South Africa and 459 globally.
• This estate threatens bird and wild animals, in terms of reproduction, and migratory flight paths. Implications for insect life and bees are worrying and these areas are coming into focus worldwide.
• Outrage has been expressed at the extraordinary fuel consumption generated by such a site and with it a radically expanded carbon footprint. This goes against all current national and international environmental concerns.
• With regard to Tourism serious implications have been expressed for an area committed to tourist development. We offer not only city dwellers much needed country getaways, but more and more are channeling increasingly large numbers of the millions of overseas tourists arriving in Cape Town, up the west coast. The appeal for these tourists is that it is an area of natural beauty and ecotourism. The livelihood of a great many people involved with this part of the tourist industry at all levels is seriously threatened.
• Concerns have been expressed about safety on a number of fronts. Accident statistics especially within the treacherous mist belt, make the likelihood of crashes including those into the mountain, a grave worry. Although there was speak of flight paths at the meeting, some of us were also told that flight paths don't really exist and control is simply by radio. Then there is the storage and continual use of dangerous materials which raises the possibility of contamination and fire No regulation can account for human error in these areas. There is also concern about air pollution and the amount and type of crime brought into the area.( eg drug running)
• With regard to social policy and land use legislation, concerns have been aired that while the attempt might be to push this through on grounds related to golf estates, it contradicts almost every objective in spirit or in letter of the provincial guidelines and legislation for land use. Given this, at a social level, implications are profound in terms of who this project benefits in light of the costs outlined here.
• An absence of a legal framework for such a development is of great concern.
• Apart from the livelihoods of the numerous people above, this development threatens one of the most central aspects of rural life - peace and quiet. This affects all those whose families have been engaged in the country for many decades, and all those who have more recently fled the cities in search of this peace, often at great cost.
• And finally, for those who live elsewhere in the western Cape whom it may not directly affect, it was clearly expressed at the information sharing meeting held at the public library on September 4th, that the hope is to build more such estates elsewhere (Already one is proposed outside Stanford.) Once precedents are created, more and more of our skies will fill with more and more planes. This is despite fuel costs as many enthusiasts are wealthy.

Locals have created a forum, which recently met to discuss the implications of this development. The intention is to inform the public, to research the consequences and to try to affect outcomes.

If you are interested in joining the forum to voice your opinion, contact Diana Simons on 022 487 1153 or email her: info@fynbosestate.co.za