Provincial Planning Minister Lampie Fick has approved the R350- million Sparrebosch hotel, housing and golf course development on the Eastern Head of Knysna, in spite of massive opposition from the environment lobby and ratepayers.

But Mr Fick, who announced his decision in Knysna yesterday after meetings with the town council and opponents of the development, said he was satisfied that stringent conditions placed on the approval would protect the environment.

"These are the most stringent conditions ever imposed on any development that I know of," he said today.

"And I want to thank the greens, although they are very angry with me. A lot of the conditions have been imposed because of the green lobby. "

Lorna Watt of the Knysna branch of the Wildlife and Environment Society, one of several environmental organisations strongly opposed to the development, said she was deeply disappointed by Mr Fick's decision.

However, they had been given an opportunity to make recommendations about the conditions of approval, she added.

A major concern about the proposal was that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) had been done only after initial planning approval had been granted, so that no alternative land use proposals for the property were considered, Ms Watt said.

Mr Fick said his conditions included the drawing up of an approved environmental management plan; the appointment of an environmental monitoring committee; and the appointment of a full-time environmental control officer.

Other objections to the development came from the National Parks Board, Cape Nature Conservation, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the Garden Route Trust and the Outeniqualand Trust.

- John Yeld (Environment Reporter)