Grinch steals V&A's festive cheer

The V&A Waterfront has become a victim of its own success.

Desperate to provide an extra 300 parking bays for the festive season, the country's biggest tourist attraction built a three-storey temporary parking garage without planning permission - and now it faces an R846,000 penalty.

The structure at the Granger Bay Boulevard entrance is designed to be movable, so the V&A can erect it on whatever spare land it has, then dismantle it when it needs to.

City of Cape Town planning officials say in a report that an order to stop work on the "highly visible" 2 400m² building was issued on September 29, a fortnight after the V&A submitted a land use application.

Officials have recommended the fine and a final decision will be made in a meeting on Tuesday.