Move to declare Green Point park a heritage site

The Cape Town city council plans to make a submission to Heritage Western Cape to declare the Green Point Urban Park a heritage site.

Cape Town - The Cape Town city council has moved to allay concerns that despite plans to commercialise the area around the Cape Town Stadium, the larger site, formerly known as the Green Point Common, will remain an open, public space.

It plans to make a submission to Heritage Western Cape to declare the Green Point Urban Park, including the golf course, sports fields and the Green Point Athletics Track, a provincial heritage site.

This comes on the back of a submission already made by the Green Point Residents and Ratepayers’ Association (GPRRA) to the heritage council in January that a wider area, including the Cape Town Stadium, Granger Bay Boulevard, a portion of Three Anchor Bay and Gallows Hill, all enjoy heritage status.

In a report to mayco on Tuesday, the city said it had reached a point in its process to unlock development and optimal use of the stadium and common to “give the public the assurance that its open space, public amenity and recreational use will be retained as such for future generations.”

The report said by nominating the site as a heritage asset, it would “allay fears of wanton commercialisation, disposal and attrition of the most precious components of the original site.”

Mayco rubber stamped the report without any discussion.

The commercialisation of the stadium and its surrounds has been a contentious issue for residents of the area, who want to ensure it is preserved as public open space.

The GPRRA has been especially opposed to recent plans by the city to lease a R100 million portion of land east of the stadium along Granger Bay Boulevard for the next 25 years.

While the report to mayco said the city had asked the GPRRA to hold off on its heritage application to allow the city to proceed with its own, the GPRRA’s heritage consultant, Antonia Malan, confirmed it had already submitted a nomination.

“In December 2015, the GPRRA prepared a similar nomination, not knowing of the city’s intentions at that time. We were encouraged by strong support from the local residents and ratepayers’ associations, civics concerned with protecting public open spaces, and the District Six Museum.”

Malan said the GPRRA understood that the two processes were complementary but separate. “We found it necessary to make the application to prevent the area from being eroded by the city council, which wants to sell off pieces of land and to secure the protection of the Common,” said GPRRA chairwoman Jenny McQueen.

“The Green Point Common was given to the people of Cape Town for sports and recreation and we want to keep it that way.”

Malan said the GPRRA’s case had taken a “broader heritage approach”, and that the whole of the remainder of the original Green Point Common should be considered for protection. Fort Wynyard, the Laboratory, the Old Somerset Hospital and Green Point Lighthouse are already provincial heritage sites.

“We see the Common as an all-inclusive cultural landscape. In our view, the historical events, social values, old structures and features are embraced within a unique setting. Heritage is not merely a matter of flower beds and signage; it is also a sense of place. Conservation of heritage landscapes means keeping the bigger picture in mind,” said Malan.

The mayco report said if the smaller area it was proposing was declared a heritage site, it would be “managed in the form of meaningful boundaries, agreements and plans to ensure that the site is not sterilised for future use, but remains protected in a flexible and adaptive manner”.

An existing site development plan and a heritage impact assessment already exists, having formed part of an earlier record of decision to allow development on the Granger Bay site.

The council’s and the GPRRA’s nominations to declare heritage sites in the area would serve before a heritage committee, which would discuss the merits of the applications, hold meetings and consultations with roleplayers and the public.

Once a declaration is made, a heritage conservation management plan and agreement may be requested from the city.

lindsay.dentlinger@inl.co.za

Cape Argus