The Constantia Property Owners Association (CPOA) is opposing a Constantia Uitsig Wine Estate development application, saying it will commercialise and “suburbanise” the farms.

If approved, the Constantia Uitsig Wine Estate would be developed to include 30 single residential houses, and see its hotel expanded from 16 to 28 bedrooms.

The plan includes a new winery, relocation of the stables and workshop, and a new house for the farm manager.

The intention is for workers on the estate to become owners and shareholders in what is hoped will be the first successful land reform project in the Constantia Valley.

Depending on the choice, workers would either stay on the property or be moved to Westlake.

In a newsletter this week, the CPOA charged that the application would create a devastating precedent for the suburbanisation and increased commercialisation of the historic Constantia farms. They vowed to use every avenue to oppose the plan.