Three disciplines, nineteen services
What your property might need
Glensburg’s town planning services in Johannesburg are listed here by the situation that calls for each.
Town Planning
Our core discipline, led by SACPLAN-registered professional planners. We apply for and defend land use rights under the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA) and each municipality’s planning by-law and land use scheme, and argue contested applications before the Municipal Planning Tribunal.
Land development
- Rezoning The zoning does not allow the use or the density you need.
- Subdivision One erf is to become two or more, each with its own title.
- Consolidation of Erven Adjoining erven are to become one property under one title.
- Township Establishment A farm portion or agricultural holding is to be developed for urban use.
- Agricultural Land Subdivision A farm is to be divided: the Minister of Agriculture must first consent.
- Excision of Agricultural Holdings A holding’s registration bars the use or the division you plan.
Consents and compliance
- Consent Use The scheme lists your use, but only with the municipality’s consent.
- Building Line Relaxation A building is or will be closer to a boundary than the scheme allows.
- Departures and Permissions The zoning fits, but a coverage, height or parking rule cannot quite be met.
- Removal of Restrictive Conditions The title deed forbids what the zoning allows.
- Contravention Notices The municipality says a use or building on your property is unlawful.
- Tribunal Representation and Appeals Your application draws objections, or a decision is to be appealed.
Architecture & Design
Our SACAP-registered architects work alongside our planners, so plans are drawn to the rights a property carries. They prepare and submit building plans and site development plans, and retrieve approved plans from municipal records.
- Building Plans Preparation You are building new, adding on or changing a building’s use.
- Building Plans Submission Drawings are ready, or have stalled at building control.
- Site Development Plans An approval, or the scheme itself, requires one before building plans.
- Retrieval of Approved Building Plans A sale, an alteration or a bank needs the approved plans.
Property Development
A development can fail on something that was knowable before transfer: a title condition, a servitude across the property, insufficient bulk services. We check for those before you commit capital, and settle the layout and building plans of a sectional title scheme before a land surveyor prepares its sectional plan.
- Development Feasibility Studies You are weighing a site and need to know what it can yield.
- Planning Due Diligence You are buying or selling, and zoning, title and approvals must be checked.
- Sectional Title Development A building, new or existing, is to be owned and sold unit by unit.
Not sure which is yours? Establishing the route is the first thing we do. Speak to a Planner
Our method
An application is a case to be argued, not a form to be filled in.
A motivation is the report that carries an application. Ours rest on the five development principles in section 7 of SPLUMA and on the municipality’s spatial development framework and nodal policies, as well as on the by-law, and they answer the objections an application is likely to draw.
Elapsed time on our applications
- A rezoning nobody objects to
- 6 to 9 months
- An application that draws objections
- 9 to 18 months
Typical figures, counted from lodgement to decision. At the first consultation we give you the figure we expect for your own property.
Publications
We publish what we practise
The practice publishes Briefings on changes to Johannesburg’s planning by-law and land use scheme, and Guides for property owners and developers. The longer research is the work of the Glensburg Cities Institute.
Sectors and jurisdictions
Where we work, and on what
Two things shape every application: the kind of development it is, and the municipality that will decide it. Each municipality has its own planning by-law and land use scheme, and the differences between them are material.
Eleven municipalities, three provinces
- Gauteng
- Metropolitan
- Johannesburg
- Tshwane
- Ekurhuleni
- West Rand District
- Mogale City
- Rand West City
- Merafong City
- Sedibeng District
- Emfuleni
- Midvaal
- Lesedi
- Metropolitan
- KwaZulu-Natal
- eThekwini
- North West
- Mahikeng
Five sectors
Residential work runs from a second dwelling to a new township; specialised work takes in renewable energy, agro-industry and tourism, often on agricultural land.
Questions about our town planning services
Not answered here? Call +27 10 442 5522, or tell us about the property below.
Which application do I need?
It depends on what the land use scheme and the title deed allow now and what you intend to do. A use or density the zoning does not allow needs a rezoning; a use the scheme allows only with the municipality’s consent needs a consent use application; dividing an erf needs a subdivision. Which one applies is settled at the first consultation, before we lodge anything.
How much do town planning services cost?
There is no fixed fee, because a building line relaxation and a township establishment take very different amounts of work. We quote against a defined scope after the first consultation, and show the municipality’s fees apart from ours. Our page on quotations sets out what decides a town planner’s fee.
Do you take on matters another planner started?
Yes. We take over applications that have stalled, been refused, or drawn objections the first motivation did not answer. We start by reading the file: what was lodged, what the municipality raised, and whether the route was the right one. Then we tell you whether to press on, to appeal, or to withdraw and lodge again, and why.
What happens if my application is refused?
A refusal need not be the end of the matter. SPLUMA and the municipal by-law allow an appeal to the municipality’s appeal authority, and the reasons for the refusal usually show what a revised application would have to answer. We advise on whether to appeal or to apply again. Appeals run to fixed time limits, and missing one can end the right to appeal. Our page on Tribunal Representation and Appeals sets out the process.
Tell us about your property
The first consultation is free and carries no obligation. If your property does not need an application, we will say so.
What happens next
- TodayYou tell us about the propertyThe street address or erf number, and what you want to do.
- Within one working dayA planner replies
- First consultation, freeYou know where you standThe application route, the likely timeline, and what the municipality will want to see.