Ron van Niekerk, Hout Bay
I refer to the article “Frankenstein battles with it out with bulldozer” (Sentinel, May 20).
Having lived in our beautiful valley for the last 18 years, we have seen the sand dunes keep pace and sometimes totally outstrip the rise in the rates and electricity prices we have to pay over the years.
Much has been wasted over the years from planting straw to trucking away large volumes of sand.
The most obvious remedy would be to bulldoze the sand back into the sea and reclaim our beaches from Chapman’s Peak to Mariners Wharf. These stretches of beach have halved in the last 18 years. Wet sand cannot blow away.
Many years ago there was a large car park at the circle next to the beach house. It stretched from the road right down to the beach. It was used over weekends by the Hobie Cat lovers to park the boat trailers on the gravelled surface.
The council had built a wall at the high water mark between the gravel and the beach. The water lapped up against the wall at high tide and as a result the sand always stayed damp and did not blow away even during the most severe windstorms. It is unknown when the wall was demolished but it seems to coincide with the birth of the sand monster. It seems that the town planner had worked with nature after all? Who broke down the wall and why?
