Have your say on plan for Coniston Park waterways

Residents have until the end of the month to comment on a proposed rehabilitation plan for the Sand and Langevlei canals confluence area in Coniston Park.

The City of Cape Town’s water and sanitation department hosted a public engagement to present the plan at the Coniston Park hall on Thursday October 10 where residents and those interested could see the layout of the project.

This project is part of the Liveable Urban Waterway (LUW) programme and aims to restore the waterway to a more natural state.

It involves adding waste interceptors, reinstating wetland areas, and creating recreational facilities for the community.

The recreational facilities will be developed on-site to add social value to the urban green space for the surrounding community of Coniston Park and the greater area, said Zahid Badroodien, Mayoral committee member for Water and Sanitation.

“Besides providing residents with a safe, green open space to enjoy, it will also reduce the silt and litter load entering Zandvlei. This will produce a renewed wetland with improved water quality and an enriched aquatic biodiversity habitat, as well as reduce flood risk within the catchment area.”

Project manager Kim Jansen said several workshops were held with the community since the beginning of 2022 to introduce the proposed plan, and give residents a chance to provide input and raise concerns.

“We had a co-design workshop where the community came up with ideas and they told us about the problems they were facing in the area and how we could incorporate that information into the project.”

She added the plan is for the community to enjoy and take ownership of the recreational space.

The plan is currently at the Draft Basic Assessment Report stage and after the public participation phase, the approval of the detailed design is set for January and construction will start in October next year.

Ward councillor Marita Petersen said the aim of the project is to clean up the waterways and upgrade the litter tracks so that water that flows into the Zandvlei and into the ocean is not polluted.

“It’s not just the beautification of the area but the project is aimed at cleaning our waterways. We need to clean our waters to get our water sports back and to mitigate the dumping and pollution problem,” she said.

Although the proposal for the upgrade is in the design phase, residents who were not on board with the plans raised concerns that the recreational space, which will have a low-seating area facing the waterway, will lead to an influx of criminality.

At the engagement on Thursday, a concerned resident, who spoke to the Southern Mail on condition of anonymity, said the area is plagued by social ills and drug addicts misuse the open space behind the Consiton Park hall.

“We are already sitting with a problem where there is a lot of foot traffic coming through the area and our concern is that it will worsen the already existing problem of drug addicts and unnecessary loitering in Coniston Park.”

He said the community took down bridges in open area to stop the excessive foot traffic into the Coniston Park and closed off Muritz Way along Prince George Drive because of the excessive taxi and car traffic.

“We have had concerns before about people coming into the area and making our lives as residents difficult and took steps to mitigate this but the implementation of this plan is going to take us right back to where we started where bad elements took over.”

Ms Petersen said the project, along with plans to build a special needs school at the site, is much-needed in the space. “We’re blessed to have these waterways running through our communities and we need to take care of it so I support the intent of the project.”

She said another public engagement meeting will be held to discuss the proposal.

“This has been two years in the making and there has been engagements with the community for the need to clean up our waterways with most of the dumping taking place at the Sand, Langevlei and Kayser rivers and the plan is to create a retention which will act as a filter before the water goes into Zandvlei. It just so happens that the two canals meet in the backyard of Coniston Park and that’s where the focus needs to be.”

Coniston Park resident Carl Louw approved the proposed plan and said the recreational space will hopefully be a safe space for the community to enjoy.

“This area has been neglected for many years and at this point it would be great if the space can be turned into a green space so I’m hoping the upgrades will have a positive effect and will be a place where we can go and take a walk and take our children to.”

Interested parties are encouraged to submit their comments on the proposed project by Monday October 28 to Lukhozi Consulting Engineers by emailing to n.ritsch@lukhozi.co.za for attention (ATT) of Natalie Ritsch or submitting written comment to their office at Office 111, 1st Floor, Tijgerpark 3, Willie van Schoor Drive, Bellville, 7530. They can also be reached on 021 686 2550.