Cape Town - Heritage Western Cape (HWC) has given its in-principle support to a nomination the Green Point Common be recognised as a provincial heritage site.
But the applicants - the Green Point Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association (GPRRA) and the city council - will have to demonstrate the historical significance of the site and how it will be protected and managed in future, before the application can proceed.
HWC chief executive Mxolisi Dlamuka confirmed the HWC had accepted one of four proposed boundary options to determine the extent of the site that will enjoy heritage protection.
The so-called Option C would include the historic core of the common bounded by a fringe of buildings along Beach Road to the north, Fort Wynyard and the Somerset Hospital Precinct to the east and the avenue of trees along what was previously Sea Point Main Road.
In a joint report submitted by the city council and the GPRRA to HWC last month, the GPRRA said these boundaries would be the very minimum acceptable to it. Following the GPRRA’s initial heritage nomination application to HWC in January, the council’s mayoral committee agreed in April it should also submit a heritage nomination for the common, but proposed a smaller area that included the Green Point Urban Park, the golf course, sports fields and the Green Point Athletics Track.
In its original proposal to the HWC in January, the GPRRA said it wanted to see the Cape Town Stadium, Granger Bay Boulevard, a portion of Three Anchor Bay and Helen Suzman Boulevard to Gallows Hill included in the protection area.
The GPRRA said this would be more in line with the original erf size of 110ha granted to the people of Cape Town in 1923 for sports and recreational use.
Following developments on the common up to 2010, the public open space area has shrunk to around 61.8ha.
“The GPRRA is of the opinion that the whole of the remainder of erf 1056 holds high significance as a cultural heritage landscape.
“The protection of the character of the common is linked to surrounding features, such as existing provincial heritage sites, the flanking built environment and the coastal public space and promenade,” said the joint report to the HWC.
The GPRRA said its nomination had been motivated by the need to prevent the council from selling or leasing portionsof the land that would prohibit public access.
Two weeks ago the city council issued a tender to lease an erf adjacent to the Cape Town Stadium for commercial development - a property the GPRRA initially wanted included in the heritage zone.
“The GPRRA nomination was made in response to public concerns over the gradual but irreversible loss of public open space and changes to the historical characteristics and traditional usage of the common for sport and recreation,” said the report.
The city council said its nomination of the common as a heritage site was to allay fears of excessive commercialisation, disposal and attrition of the area.
The council has now been tasked with drafting a heritage inventory list of the heritage resources on and around the common. A conservation management plan will also have to be drawn up to indicate how the heritage resources will be protected.
The council also has the option of zoning the area under a Heritage Protection Overlay which will guide future developments.
It could then require the council to receive approval from the HWC for any action in the area.
The parties are set to meet again in November to further discuss the application.
Cape Argus