Court-sanctioned survey shows parts of Hermanus cliff path are on private land

Just when it seemed safe to walk the Hermanus cliff path, a new twist looks set to block the way of the controversial public thoroughfare — which is not as public as initially thought.

Stakeholders have confirmed that two new sections of the coastal path have been unknowingly built on private land.

The scenic path that follows the shoreline is being completed after a lengthy dispute over public access to part of it, a rocky stretch called Poole’s Bay.

The Cliff Path Action Group (CPAG) obtained permission to build a path along the Poole’s Bay coast, but faced opposition from a private development, Bayview, an upmarket apartment estate that erected a balustrade preventing the public crossing its pool area. But the high court in Cape Town last month ordered Bayview to remove its balustrade. A subsequent land survey found the entire Bayview pool was actually on state land.

The court order meant path construction could proceed in front of Bayview to complete it along the Hermanus coast, bringing to an end an annoying detour for walkers along the town’s busy main road.

However, it has since emerged that new sections of the path were constructed on private land, according to the court-sanctioned survey of the high water mark. 

CPAG chair Jobre Stassen confirmed the boundary mix-up, which she attributed to discrepancies between an initial high water mark survey and a re-survey requested by the Poole’s Bay Residents’ Association.

“The re-survey resulted in a relocation of the [high water mark], which on a technicality resulted in the built path to be landside of the [high water mark] — a few metres of the 600m construction is now found to be on ‘private land’. It really is technical. It wasn’t on private land before the re-survey,” said Stassen.

“The re-survey still is under scrutiny and it’s premature to claim the path is now on private land. Remember, it was built entirely on state land as defined at the time of construction.

“Updated and registered surveyor-general diagrams with GPS points could solve a lot of the ambiguity. What one also now realises after the latest re-survey is that ad hoc surveys initiated by homeowners can also cause havoc,” Stassen said.

CPAG has been fighting to complete the clifftop path for several years. It faced stiff opposition from the residents’ association, made up of several high-profile Hermanus families.

However, aerial diagrams confirm CPAG appears to have also crossed the line in its haste to complete the path across the Poole’s Bay shoreline — by crossing on to private land in two areas. One of the affected landowners, a businessman, declined to comment pending efforts to resolve the boundary dispute. The other affected property is Mollergren Park, a 14,198m² property owned by the Hermanus Rotary Club, which is for sale for R160m.

It is unclear whether the path will need to be moved, or if the lengthy application process will need to be repeated.   

Bayview body corporate chair Andrew Collins said multiple surveys had produced contradictory results, though the surveyor general had now accepted the latest survey that showed the Bayview pool on state land.

“Interestingly, CPAG are very happy to accept this survey as being accurate at Bayview, but they claim it is not correct where it shows the already constructed path being on private land. The ... position is we have to accept the decision of the surveyor general and CPAG cannot have their cake and eat it too,” Collins said.

Stassen said the cliff path project had highlighted “serious shortcomings” in the administration of public coastal land “especially when the public is involved”.

“The gravitas of what it represents justifies clarity,” she said.

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