CHAPTER 32:09
TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

    SECTION

PART I
Preliminary

    1.    Short title

    2.    Interpretation

PART II
Administration

    3.    Duties of Minister

    4.    Director of Town and Country Planning

    5.    Appointment of planning authorities

PART III
Qualifications, Registration and Regulation of Physical Planners

    6.    Registration as a physical planner

    7.    Qualifications for registration

    8.    Suspension or cancellation of registration

    9.    Restoration of name to the register

    10.    Appeals Committee

    11.    Appeal against decision of Appeals Committee

    12.    Return of certificate of registration to Director

    13.    Register to be prima facie evidence

    14.    Unauthorised practice as physical planner

PART IV
Development Plans

    15.    Declaration of planning areas

    16.    Declaration of regions

    17.    Regional plans

    18.    Consultations for regional plans

    19.    Local plans

    20.    Consultations for local plans

PART V
Control of Development of Land and Permission for Development

    21.    Development of land

    22.    Development order

    23.    Requirements for planning permission

    24.    Planning permission for development

    25.    Referral of applications to Minister

    26.    Decision of the planning authority

    27.    Appeals

    28.    Granting of planning permission

    29.    Modification and revocation of planning permission

    30.    Enforcement procedure

    31.    Suspension of enforcement notice

    32.    Appeals against an enforcement notice

    33.    Further action on enforcement notice

    34.    Duration of the enforcement notice

    35.    Non-compliance with enforcement notices

    36.    Transfer of planning functions

PART VI
Subdivisions and Consolidations

    37.    Subdivisions and consolidations

    38.    Approval of diagrams and registration of deeds

    39.    Submission of applications

    40.    Consideration of applications

    41.    Appeals on subdivisions and consolidations

PART VII
Preservation orders

    42.    Tree preservation orders

    43.    Building preservation orders

    44.    Injury to amenity

    45.    List of special buildings

    46.    Effect of inclusion of building in the list

PART VIII
Advertisements

    47.    Display of advertisements

    48.    Regulations relating to advertisements

PART IX
Miscellaneous Provisions

    49.    Powers of entry

    50.    Power to require information to be given

    51.    Planning permission issued under previous laws

    52.    Temporary provisions pending operation of development plan

    53.    Regulations

    54.    Act to bind State

    55.    Repeal of Cap. 32:09

    56.    Savings

    57.    Transitional provisions

        Schedule 1

        Schedule 2

Act 11, 1977,
S.I. 95, 1980,
Act 4, 2013,
S.I. 21, 2014.

An Act to make provision for the orderly and progressive development of land in both urban and rural areas and to preserve and improve the amenities thereof; for the qualifications and regulation of physical planners, and for matters incidental thereto or connected therewith.

[Date of Commencement: 1st April, 2014]

PART I
Preliminary (ss 1-2)

1.    Short title

    This Act may be cited as the Town and Country Planning Act.

2.    Interpretation

    In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

    "advertisement"means any word, letter, model sign, placard, board, notice, device or representation, whether illuminated or not, in the nature of and employed wholly or in part for the purposes of advertising, announcing or directing, and, without prejudice to structure used or adapted for use in the display of advertisements;

    "agriculture"includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, the breeding and keeping of livestock including any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur, or for the purpose of its use in the farming of land, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes;

    "building"includes any structure or erection and any part of a building as so defined, but does not include plant or machinery comprised in a building;

    "building preservation order"means an order issued under section 43;

    "consolidation"means the merging of two or more plots or portions of land;

    "development"means the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under any land or the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land;

    "development order"means an order issued under section 22;

    "development plan"means all physical plans prepared, including the national plan, regional plans, master plans, structural plans and local plans;

    "Director"means the Director of Town and Country Planning appointed under section 4;

    "Director of Surveys and Lands"means the Director of Surveys and Lands appointed under section 3 of the Land Survey Act (Cap. 33:01);

    "erection", in relation to buildings, includes an extension, alteration and re-erection;

    "land"includes a building;

    "land tribunal"means such land tribunal as may be established under an Act of Parliament;

    "local authority"means a city council, a town council, a township authority, a district council, a subdistrict council or an administrative authority;

    "local plan"means a development plan for any area which falls within the jurisdiction of a local authority;

    "minerals"includes all minerals and substances, including oil and natural gas, in or under land of a kind ordinarily removed by underground or surface working;

    "owner", in relation to any land, means a person who, in his or her own right or as agent for any other person, is entitled to receive the rent of the land, or, where the land is not let, would be so entitled if it were let;

    "permission granted for a limited period only"has the meaning assigned to it under section 24(3);

    "physical planner"means a person issued with a certificate of registration under section 6(2);

    "planning area"means an area declared as such by the Minister under section 15;

    "planning authority"means a body established as such under section 5;

    "regional plan"means a development plan prepared for any area declared as a region in terms of section 16(1);

    "Regional Planning Advisory Committee"means a committee appointed by the Minister under section 16(2);

    "Registrar of Deeds"means the Registrar of Deeds appointed under section 4 of the Deeds Registry Act (Cap. 33:02);

    "subdivision"has the meaning assigned to it under section 37(4);

    "tree preservation order"means an order issued under section 42; and

    "use", in relation to land, does not include the use of land for the carrying out of any building, engineering, mining or other operations on the land.

PART II
Administration (ss 3-5)

3.    Duties of Minister

    The Minister shall ensure consistency in the framing and execution of a comprehensive policy with respect to the use and development of all land in Botswana in accordance with development plans for Botswana prepared in accordance with the provisions of Part IV.

4.    Director of Town and Country Planning

    (1) There shall be a Director of Town and Country Planning for Botswana.

    (2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Director shall—

    (a)    supervise and control the planning of land in planning areas;

    (b)    take charge of and preserve all records which were prior to the commencement of this Act, or may become after such date, records of the Department of Town and Country Planning;

    (c)    cause to be kept a register of persons registered to practice as physical planners in Botswana;

    (d)    when required to do so under this Act or in pursuance of an order of a court—

        (i)    register a physical planner or suspend, from practice, a physical planner, and

        (ii)    remove, from the register, the name of a physical planner;

    (e)    cause to be published by notice in the Gazette, at the beginning of each year in January, a list containing the names, addresses and qualifications of all registered physical planners remaining on the register at the close of the previous year; and

    (f)    carry out any other duties assigned to him or her by the Minister.

5.    Appointment of planning authorities

    (1) Every council is hereby appointed as a planning authority for its planning area.

    (2) A planning authority shall appoint a Physical Planning Committee to deal with such matters as the planning authority may, in writing, delegate to it.

    (3) The constitution and procedure of a Physical Planning Committee shall be in accordance with Schedule 1.

    (4) The functions of a planning authority are—

    (a)    to determine applications for permission to develop land in terms of section 21;

    (b)    to advise the Minister on any matter within its knowledge or on which the Minister may seek its advice and, in particular, on the preparation or revision of development plans under Part IV; and

    (c)    to carry out any other duties as may be required in furtherance of the objectives of this Act.

PART III
Qualifications, Registration and Regulation of Physical Planners (ss 6-14)

6.    Registration as a physical planner

    (1) Any person who wishes to be registered as a physical planner shall make an application, in writing, to the Director and shall provide proof—

    (a)    that the person possesses the qualifications required under section 7;

    (b)    that the person has paid the prescribed registration fee; and

    (c)    that the person has taken such oath or affirmation as may be prescribed.

    (2) The Director shall, on the registration of any person, issue to that person a certificate of registration, in such form as may be prescribed, and the certificate shall be proof that the person is so registered and is entitled to practice as a physical planner.

    (3) Every certificate of registration issued shall have effect from the date on which it is issued and shall expire after twelve months.

    (4) A certificate of registration shall expire—

    (a)    where the name of a physical planner is removed from the register kept under section 4(2)(c); or

    (b)    upon cancellation of the certificate by the Director under section 8.

    (5) A certificate of registration shall be renewed annually by the Director in such form as may be prescribed, upon the payment of such fee as may be prescribed.

    (6) A physical planner who has been issued with a certificate of registration shall display that certificate in a conspicuous place at his or her place of business.

    (7) Any person aggrieved by the refusal of the Director to be registered as a physical planner or to renew his or her certificate of registration in terms of this section may, within 30 days of the notification of such refusal, appeal, in writing, to the Appeals Committee.

    (8) A person who, without a valid certificate of registration, practises as a physical planner commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding P5 000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.

7.    Qualifications for registration

    (1) A person shall not be entitled to be registered as a physical planner unless the person—

    (a)    holds the membership of a locally registered institute of town planners; or

    (b)    has passed an examination prescribed by the Minister or any examination recognised by the Minister as being equivalent to one so prescribed.

    (2) A person who holds any of the qualifications referred in subsection (1) shall not be registered as a physical planner unless the person—

    (a)    has subject to subsection (3) served such continuous period of training in practical physical planning work as may be prescribed;

    (b)    satisfies the Director that he or she has had field experience of the types of physical planning required by this Act;

    (c)    carries out, to the satisfaction of the Director, a practical trial of physical planning work;

    (d)    satisfies the Director that he or she is otherwise capable of conducting physical planning in accordance with the provisions of this Act;

    (e)    has passed, to the satisfaction of the Director, any examination as may be prescribed which relates to physical planning and land use; and

    (f)    is a public servant, holds the qualifications stated under subsection (1) and holds such position in the public service as the Minister may, by Order published in the Gazette, prescribe.

    (3) The Director may exempt a person from the provisions of subsection (2) if the person holds such post-graduate qualifications in town, urban, environmental or physical planning, or any qualifications recognised by the Minister as being equivalent to one so prescribed.

8.    Suspension or cancellation of registration

    (1) Where a physical planner—

    (a)    signs a document, physical plan or a diagram of a physical development plan in respect of which he or she has not carried out or personally supervised the whole of the physical planning project and satisfied himself or herself about the correctness of the information being used, or any calculations, working plans and other records in connection therewith made by any other person; or

    (b)    signs a defective physical development plan or diagram, knowing it to be defective,

the Director may, after holding such inquiry as may be necessary, suspend the registration of the physical planner for such period of time as the Director deems fit.

    (2) Where a physical planner—

    (a)    repeatedly performs defective physical planning work or surveys in respect of which adequate checks have not been applied;

    (b)    repeatedly submits documents, reports, diagrams or plans which are defective or erroneous;

    (c)    knowingly supplies erroneous information to the Director or a planning authority in connection with any report, diagram or any illustration;

    (d)    contravenes such code of conduct as may be prescribed; or

    (e)    is convicted of an offence under this Act or of an offence of which dishonesty is an element,

the Director may, after holding such inquiry as may be necessary, cancel the registration of the physical planner and remove from the register kept under section 4(2)(c), the name of the physical planner.

    (3) A physical planner who has been suspended in accordance with subsection (1) shall be disqualified from performing the work of a physical planner for the time of suspension.

    (4) The Director shall cause to be endorsed on the register to be kept under section 4(2)(c) the fact of any suspension or cancellation or the terms of any such other order made in terms of subsection (1).

    (5) A certificate of registration issued under section 6(2) to a physical planner whose name has been removed from the register in terms of this section shall be deemed to have been cancelled on the date of the removal from the register of his or her name, and the physical planner shall be deemed not to be registered with effect from that date.

    (6) The Minister may prescribe the procedures to be followed in any inquiry held under sections 8(1) and 9.

9.    Restoration of name to the register

    Where the name of a physical planner has been suspended from the register or the registration of a physical planner has been cancelled and removed from the register, the Director may, either of his or her own volition, or on the application of the physical planner concerned made in such form as may be prescribed, and after holding such inquiry as the Director may consider necessary, direct that the name of the physical planner be restored to the register or direct that the suspension of the physical planner be cancelled.

10.    Appeals Committee

    (1) The Minister shall appoint an Appeals Committee which shall consist of five members, who possess suitable qualifications and have the relevant experience.

    (2) The members of the Appeals Committee shall elect, from among their number, a Chairperson.

    (3) A person aggrieved by the Director's decision to—

    (a)    refuse to register him or her as a physical planner;

    (b)    suspend his or her registration;

    (c)    cancel his or her registration; or

    (d)    remove his or her name from the register;

may appeal, in writing, to the Appeals Committee within 30 days of notification of the decision.

    (4) Before determining an appeal under this section, the Appeals Committee shall give the Director a reasonable opportunity to submit his or her own written submissions in connection with the appeal and may give both the appellant and the Director a reasonable opportunity to make oral submissions before it.

    (5) In determining an appeal under this section, the Appeals Committee shall give due consideration to every submission made to it by virtue of this section and shall thereafter proceed to confirm, reverse or vary the decision of the Director against which the appeal is brought and may make any decision in respect of the subject matter of the appeal that the Director might have made and the Director shall comply with the order of the Appeals Committee.

11.    Appeal against decision of Appeals Committee

    A person aggrieved by the decision of the Appeals Committee under section 10 may, within 30 days of the date on which notice is given to him or her of the Appeals Committee's decision, appeal to the High Court.

12.    Return of certificate of registration to Director

    (1) A person whose name has been removed from the register under section 8 shall return, by registered letter to the Director, his or her certificate of registration within 30 days of the date upon which he or she is directed, in writing, by the Director to do so.

    (2) A person who refuses to return a certificate of registration in contravention of subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding P2 000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding four months, or to both.

13.    Register to be prima facie evidence