The moratorium, which was put into place on May 31, meant that all applications that were not granted by this date would be put on hold until completion of the structure plan.

Lorraine is the fastest-growing suburb in the city and infrastructure in the area has not been able to cope with the rapid development.

About 50 site development plans for group housing, sectional title and hybrid scheme developments have been approved in the past five years. This amounts to more than 2,000 units that have been constructed - more than double the townhouses being built anywhere else in the city.

"Lorraine has just been highlighted as a problem area because of the pressure for development. The structure plan will provide solutions for infrastructure problems in Lorraine," said land planning and management manager Dawn McCarthy.

The municipality is in the process of appointing consultants to draw up a structure plan.

The proposal process for the revision of the structure plan closed on September 15. Once council appoints a company to conduct the revision, it has a maximum of 120 days to complete the process.

Developers who were granted permission to develop before May 31 are being allowed to continue construction. McCarthy said there were no plans to extend the moratorium to any other parts of the municipality.

Development in Lorraine has until recently been guided by the 1993 structure plan, but this plan does not address the high density residential development in the area.

Lorraine had recently experienced major problems with its sanitation, water and road systems because of the increased development in the area, McCarthy said.

She said once the revised structure plan had been completed, post May 31 applications would be measured against it. Developers whose applications are successful will then be allowed to build on their properties under the direction of the structure plan.

The revised structure plan will also look at the improvement of infrastructure in the future.

She said that as yet only two developments which made application before May 31, had been affected by the moratorium.

Lorraine ward councillor Gustav Rautenbach said the roads in Lorraine were a particular problem.

"In the last five years 2,000 new residential units have gone up, which means there are about 6,000 new residents. If you take an average of 1,5 vehicles per family that means there are 3,000 more vehicles on the roads."