“As a Town Planner you have many responsibilities, but the most important one is that of forward planning. When consultants channel their applications for upcoming projects to the Deputy Director, it gets passed on to me for comment. Each application is then evaluated in terms of structural plans, scheme regulations and sensitive coastal management plans if the project is in a sensitive area,” explains Paul.

The building of the electronic town is another vital task that poses numerous challenges. “We create the town map by using survey general diagrams and general plans to input into AllyCAD so that the data can be used in GIS format when required. I couldn’t imagine embarking on such a project without the help of AllyCAD, I love working with the program. The survey general diagrams are available in hard copy and then drawn in AllyCAD before being converted to GIS. We use objects to represent erven when building the electronic town and the data is then exported in shape file format. It all sounds so easy, but it is one hell of a process!”

With the vast quantities of information that is input, there is always the risk of a duplication. “Sometimes you have a layer over a layer, a duplicated erf number or even double lines that need to be cleaned up. This causes endless queries and the clean up process keeps us very busy,” says Paul, adding that the corrections are necessary as the information would otherwise be rejected when converting it to GIS.”

Scheme regulations and structure plans are done in accordance with the Integrated Development Programme (IDP). The IDP provides the ideal platform where the needs of the community can be discussed with an advisory body. The programme is largely community driven and meetings are conducted in all areas throughout the region in order to get people involved in the future planning of their district, suburb or town. Community feedback is then evaluated against the council’s budget. “It was a huge effort to get the IDP off the ground in 2002, but after many exhausting meetings we managed to get it done.”

According to Paul, the ownership of land largely dictates the selection procedure of consultants. “If the land is council property, the council will put out a tender for developers and invite proposals. We will then evaluate these proposals before

submitting  them to council. Sometimes we evaluate up to 20 proposals at a time and each one needs to be backed by a written report stating the reasons why someone was successful or unsuccessful. With privately owned property, the owner obtains quotes from 3 or 4 consultants and then makes his choice. We therefore only need to evaluate one proposal so it is a lot easier.”

The Kraaibos area development is an example of a large-scale proposal by a private developer that is currently receiving attention. The development is known as the Blue Mountain village and is privately owned. “The plan for the property was put together by an independent town planner and our role was to evaluate the application and perform the necessary inspections. Once we are satisfied, we will be submitting our proposal in summarised format to the council for approval,” explains Paul.

There is currently a shortage of manpower at George municipality, a problem that has caused a significant work backlog. “We are sitting with a backlog of approximately 100 proposals that must be submitted to council. On average, a Town Planner completes about 10 - 20 proposals per month. We also have a backlog of approximately 500 building plans that need to be approved, but we have since appointed some temporary staff members to help us cope and will also be sourcing additional qualified personnel shortly.”

Despite the many work challenges that Paul faces, he is committed to getting the job done. His energy is unwavering and he’s role of advisor to the many estate agents, developers, private consultants, builders and property owners that seek his input is never-ending. “What I love about my job is that I am contributing to the development of a town. It leaves you with a good feeling when you can step back and see such positive change in progress,” says Paul with a smile.