Cape Town's tourism Helicopter industry seems to be booming if one judges it by the amount helicopters flying around over the Cape Peninsula. It also seems to be an industry that only considers itself and not the detrimental effect it is having on the general peace and well being of the suburbs of Cape Town.
The noise on the ground has become increasingly problematic, especially when there are 40 plus flights a day in summer coming over your house. The Cape Town suburbs and Table Mountain National Park have generally always been quiet spaces but unfortunately, this is no longer the case thanks to an elitist tourism activity reserved for the wealthy minority.
The City of Cape Town (to date) has not been able to provide me with the Environmental Impact Assesment report that I would hope has been done for a high volume activity such as this that causes noise and dumps C02 into the atmosphere.
Coastal suburbs like Clovelly, Kalk Bay, St James and Muizenberg are being hugely affected as they are directly under the flight path. Helicopters then fly along the m3 highway (Lakeside, Tokai, Bergvliet, Constantia, Clarmeont, and Newlands are also all being affected) and around Devils Peak back to the Waterfront landing station.
Flights start coming over at around 8:30am and continue till sundown.
The noise is relentless and the sheer volume of flights going overhead throughout the day means that there is absolutely no escaping it. It's not like it's a few flights around 10am and then a few more in the afternoon - it's a continuous stream throughout the day. Even when climbing the mountains up above Kalk Bay and Muizenberg one is subjected to helicopters flying overhead. I've had the same experience up in Newlands Forest, a peaceful hike in this wonderful urban nature reserve is destroyed by the sound of helicopters overhead.
As I type this, it's a beautiful morning overlooking False Bay and already the helicopters are already flying overhead.
The noise on the ground has become increasingly problematic, especially when there are 40 plus flights a day in summer coming over your house. The Cape Town suburbs and Table Mountain National Park have generally always been quiet spaces but unfortunately, this is no longer the case thanks to an elitist tourism activity reserved for the wealthy minority.
The City of Cape Town (to date) has not been able to provide me with the Environmental Impact Assesment report that I would hope has been done for a high volume activity such as this that causes noise and dumps C02 into the atmosphere.
Coastal suburbs like Clovelly, Kalk Bay, St James and Muizenberg are being hugely affected as they are directly under the flight path. Helicopters then fly along the m3 highway (Lakeside, Tokai, Bergvliet, Constantia, Clarmeont, and Newlands are also all being affected) and around Devils Peak back to the Waterfront landing station.
Flights start coming over at around 8:30am and continue till sundown.
The noise is relentless and the sheer volume of flights going overhead throughout the day means that there is absolutely no escaping it. It's not like it's a few flights around 10am and then a few more in the afternoon - it's a continuous stream throughout the day. Even when climbing the mountains up above Kalk Bay and Muizenberg one is subjected to helicopters flying overhead. I've had the same experience up in Newlands Forest, a peaceful hike in this wonderful urban nature reserve is destroyed by the sound of helicopters overhead.
As I type this, it's a beautiful morning overlooking False Bay and already the helicopters are already flying overhead.
The Waterfront helicopters are a real problem for us here in Claremont. They fly directly over my house and they create a lot of noise especially in the summer months. To address my problem I took the route of negotiating with ever party involved to try and get a solution to my problem: (1) I've met with owners of the three Helicopter companies and requested them not to fly over my house. Only one has responded positively to my request. (2) I have met with the City Engineering (Noise Control) in Wynberg. (3) The Waterfront CEO, David Green does not respond to my request for a meeting (I have met with one of his managers). In all cases three negotiations above I have been referred to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAO). Unfortunately the CAO do not respond even in cases of dangerous and low flying incidents. In essence communications with the authorities has had little effect. Its really up to us now to create pressure by other means. Thank you for this blog!
ReplyDeleteDennis Stead
Claremont