iLembe has experienced rapid growth in urban development over the years. Urban development has been dominant in KwaDukuza local municipality. A number of residential estates are being built and some are currently at planning stage. The municipality might be faced with overdevelopment of residential areas and increase in the demand of community and social facilities such as schools, hospitals and recreational facilities. Residential development has impacted on other land uses. There has been a loss of agricultural land to urban development. The loss of agricultural land has negative impact on sugar cane farmers. There will also be job losses because some of the mills will have to close down if there is not enough sugar to process.

  

There are opportunities for commercial development in iLembe because there has been a great deal of focus on residential developments. The residential developments that are taking place provides for a significant demand for office developments and light industrial developments to provide places of work for residents. Commercial development is developed in KwaDukuza therefore further attention needs to be directed to the other local municipalities in order to develop their commercial development nodes.