Communities take back their streets: Urban Improvement Precincts offer residents a fight against urban decay

Safety and security form one of the pillars of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If you have to explore this further, you'll find that falling under this topic are sub-topics of; health, employment, property, family and social ability.

If you have to zone in on this, you’ll quickly realise the great lengths people go to to ensure that their homes and families are safe - no matter the cost.

This has led to a boom in the private security sector where many communities work hand-in-hand with these companies in the form of Community Policing Forums, Neighbourhood Watches and Ratepayers' Associations.

This has allowed for a new player to enter the ring - Urban Improvement Precincts or UIPs.

The UIP mechanism is based on the Municipal Property Rates Act of 2004, which makes provision for the establishment of Special Rating Areas.

The UIP is established in a defined geographic area and must be approved by 51% of commercial owners or 66% of residential owners who agree to the top-up services, in addition to those supplied by the municipality.

Once the formation of the UIP is approved by Council, 100% of property owners within its legislated boundaries are required by law to contribute to the UIP i.e. every property owner contributes their share, proportionate to the budget for their precinct and the market value of their property.

Communities are now taking advantage of the Act and are using it to take back their streets.

Various areas, especially in the greater Durban and surrounds, have set up UIPs to almost supplement services that ratepayers have pretty much being paying for, for years.

What is a UIP?

A UIP is a registered non-profit company with a steering committee

According to Florida Road UIP precinct manager, Vanessa Knight, a UIP's three functions are; cleaning, greening and security.

"We work with stakeholders within the eThekwini Municipality who speak directly to heads of departments within the City. If we have a problem with electricity, they are able to liaise directly with the head of electricity to find out what the issue is," Knight said.

Speaking to IOL, Steven Jones who is assisting in setting up a UIP in the Manor Gardens area, explained that a UIP has a steering committee appointed to oversee operations.

He added that there are different kinds of UIP structures and in Manor Gardens, it has been decided that a mixed UIP would be the best option as it will have both residential and business properties.

"The process starts by submitting a proposal to the office of the head of the eThekwini Economic Development. They assess various aspects of this such as a business plan, proposed budget and other factors to determine if a UIP is feasible in the proposed area.

"If this outline is approved you get the go-ahead to start the voting process. Every household, business and governing body needs to be notified of the voting taking place and they are called to cast their vote in favour. A majority of 66%+1 votes for households is required and 50%+1 for businesses to have a valid application. Should we get the votes required, we then submit the final application back to the department and it is presented to the city council for final approvals," he said.

Funding for the UIP is generated through an additional amount on the property owner's rates or utilities bill.

Jones said any UIP has to report back to the Economic Development Department to get approval on budgets and to monitor spending and other operational decisions, so the very nature of a UIP is interconnected with the municipality.

Will I pay more on my rates bill?

Jones said the additional rates levy will be collected by the municipality and paid over to the UIP on a monthly basis.

“You could see the UIP as an area-specific agency of the municipality in a way, so this means a direct conduit from the community to the municipality and a much closer working relationship and formalised integration to service the shared objectives,” Jones said.

eThekwini Municipality spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said the relationship between the UIPs and the municipality is based on the Finance Agreement signed between them.

“The municipality collects the money from liable owners on behalf of the UIP and deposits it into their bank accounts. The municipality monitors compliance with the agreement as well as implementation of their business plans and budgets,” she said.

Sisilana said the role of UIPs compliment the City's work in general.

"UIPs empower residents as they get to determine the type of neighbourhood environments they would like to live and conduct business in.

“UIPs create employment and provide opportunities to local service providers. UIPs enhance property values and attracts investment," she said.

Is it all good?

According to Asad Gaffar, chairperson the Westville Ratepayers’ Association chairperson, UIPs cannot fix the ‘big problems’.

In a nutshell, Gaffar highlighted the limitations of the UIP in addressing major infrastructure.

"So if there's a transformer that is blown, the UIP can't deal with it. We had major sewer leaks in uMhlanga and there was no way that the UIP could deal with it. We all know that holiday accommodation was impacted and the hotels were basically running at a loss because no one wants to swim while there's a sewage leak.

Similarly, in terms of the roads, if there's burst water pipe, the UIP can't deal with it. What they can cover is security. They can improve on security and upkeep of the area and make the area look pretty and clean. That's about it, there's nothing more they can do. And whilst it may be something people gravitate towards, UIPs don't deal with the core issues like budgeting for those areas which are seeing a collapse in infrastructure," he said.

Gaffar is of the view that people should not be paying more for the community to get the municipality to basically do their job.

To UIP or not to UIP? That is the question. Share your view with us by emailing seanne.rall@iol.co.za

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