The hotel was on the council's BEE agenda with the Plettenberg Bay Country Club as a way of using "underutilised" municipal assets to generate the means to kick-start the council's local economic development (LED) plan. Judgment was reserved recently in a Cape Town court on the ongoing legal battle around the proposed sale of the country club.
This week the municipality and the Signal Hill Action Group were informed by Heritage Western Cape that it had decided to safeguard the viewsite, which is in a quiet residential area and is a favourite spot for picnics and outings.
Heritage Western Cape's decision on the historic site comes only weeks after the provincial government turned down plans for an upmarket country estate development of only 10 units in The Crags, near Plett. Observers say the two decisions signal a tough new approach by the authorities to the unchecked property development which has already disfigured large areas of the Garden Route.
Signal Hill dates back to the early 19th century when a signalling station was built and used by lookouts to send messages with flags to ships entering the bay.
The site features prominently in the diaries of Captain John Sewell, who was harbour master in Plett towards the end of the 19th century.
In her book Portrait of Plettenberg Bay, Patricia Storrar describes how after the Second World War, a prominent local cleric, Father Earp-Jones, renovated the signalling station and repaired the damaged signalling mast which still stands today.
In a letter conveying its decision to the Bitou Municipality, HWC points out that Signal Hill still serves an important purpose for seafarers, as the local branch of the NSRI uses the viewsite as a vantage point to locate those in danger at sea.
The Centre for Dolphin Studies, says HWC, conducts monitoring exercises from the site to keep a watch on the movements of whales and dolphins around the Plett coast.
Tour groups also frequent the site, which has an impressive view of the coastline and large areas of the surrounding countryside.
In 2002, the Bitou Council decided to call for proposals for the Signal Hill site and in April, 2003, the council accepted a project proposed by Cape Town- based Halcyon Hotels.
The consortium's plans included a 25-room lodge with conference facilities, a wellness centre, and a restaurant.
However, the project was strongly opposed.
Action group chairman Dr Hilton Davies said yesterday that when he approached Bitou mayor Euan Wildeman on Halcyon Hotels' proposed project, Wildeman told him it was too late to do anything about it. It was later discovered that the Bitou Council did not have the right to develop the site.
Eastern Province Herald
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
