Leaning wall of Milton Manor no more

FOR more than a year, residents of Milton Manor in Sea Point have been locked in a frustrating battle with a tree whose invasive roots were not only damaging their boundary wall, paving and building foundations, but also threatening their safety.

- TRACY-LYNN RUITERS

Some units in the block, located at 2 Milton Road and boasting spectacular views of the Atlantic and Table Mountain, are worth more than R3 million. And yet, this long-standing issue was growing increasingly urgent.

The tree, which stood on City property just outside the building, had sent its roots deep into the structure. One elderly resident had to rearrange her furniture to keep it from being damaged. The wall was visibly leaning, the paving was lifting, and the building manager, Billy Ackerman, had even nicknamed the boundary “the Leaning Wall of Milton Manor.”

“We've been passed from one department to another, and no one is giving us any answers,” Ackerman said at the time. “It’s been dragging on for so long, and winter’s approaching. The wall is leaning more every day.”