In general, Town Planners are dynamic individuals who excel at problem-solving and thinking out of the box. Town Planners are normally involved in the inception of a project. It is essential to involve a Town Planner early in a project lifecycle to ensure that professional and sound advice is provided based on the project scope and process required.

Property is a great investment, and in most cases, will be the biggest investment decision homeowners make in their lifetime.  It is therefore essential to appoint a professional, competent, and registered Town Planner to ensure that correct advise is provided for key decision making in a project or development.

Town Planning mainly consists of Spatial Planning and Land Use Management. Typical land use management services include the following: 

• Rezoning – a process to amend/change the zoning of a property. 
• Township Establishment – Process of formally converting Farmland into urban areas typically consisting of residential, commercial or industrial properties
• Consent Use – Obtain consent on a property to exercise a certain land use right without amending its zoning (Guest house, Creche, school, etc.)
• Subdivision – Division of land into two or more portions. Applicable in urban areas or on farmland. 
• Consolidation – Merging of two or more properties, owned by the legal entity. 
• Removal of Restrictive Title Conditions – Removal of restrictive conditions in a Title Deed that prohibit certain activities such as approval of building plans or change of zoning. 
• Contravention Notices – Report Illegal land uses to the Municipality

Depending on the type of land use application and the impact of which the proposed land use will have on the engineering services and infrastructure on the area (Water, sewer, roads, stormwater, electricity), bulk contributions may be applicable to be paid by the client/property owner.

Bulk Contributions are once off-payments and are payable to the Local Authority/Municipality.

Depending on the type of application, obtaining an approval may take as long as 12 months or even longer.

After the application is submitted by the Town Planner it is circulated to relevant Council Departments for comments on the application. The application is then processed by a municipal Planning Officer who makes a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved or not.

Should objections be received during the public participation process, it can cause a serious delay in the processing and approval of your application.  If an agreement cannot be reached between the owner and objectors, a hearing must be held, which can extend the finalization period with 9 months or even longer.