Friends of The Liesbeek » Uncategorized

Bloomberg does a blooming good job along the Liesbeek

jason — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:29:51 +0000

The Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a division of Bloomberg LP, helped the Friends of the Liesbeek plant 40 trees and weed out alien vegetation along the banks of the Liesbeek River. The trees were donated to the organisation by SANParks tree nursery, based in Newlands. The Friends of the Liesbeek wishes to thank all the volunteers from Bloomberg for their time in commemorating Earth Day (which was on the 22nd April), by helping us along the river. In total, 15 Wild Olive, 15 Cape Holly, 5 Assegai and 5 Cape Beech trees were planted along the river from Sans Souci Road to the cleared banks opposite the Wild Fig. We look forward to working with all of you again in the near future.

LAND USE PLANNING BILL

francine — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:44:00 +0000

A message from WESSA

Dear all

Opportunity to make comment on Land Use Planning Bill

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEAD&P) have advertised the new Land Use Planning Bill for public comment until Thursday 5 April. Incorporated are changes to the Provincial Spatial Development framework (PSDF).

As the implications of such new legislation are significant you may want to send in a comment to the Department. With this in mind WESSA will have a focused discussion session this coming Monday 2 of April from 3 – 5 pm at the WESSA Barn – 31 The Sanctuary, Kirstenhof, Cape Town.

We apologise for the lateness of this invitation but the closest Departmental public meeting took place just a few days ago in Stellenbosch.

In brief, the Department says:
• The existing structure plan is outdated
• Planning legislation needs to be more closely aligned with the constitution
• New trends and policies need to be taken into account
• The old plan was too prescriptive
• There have been difficulties aligning municipal SDFs with the PSDF
• The new LUPA (Land Use Planning Act) would be very different from the old (1985) LUPO (Land Use Planning Ordinance) which would be superceded
• The idea is to have a one-stop-shop for “streamlined” development applications
• Credible forward planning is a major driver
• The roles of province and municipality need to be clarified
• There has to be a planning system that works for municipalities of different capacity
• The act will have defined principles and objectives
• There will be an independent Land Use Planning Board that will try to arbitrate conflicts

More detail and implications will be provided at the discussion session along with possible response templates.

If you can’t make it to the meeting but would like notes, a copy of the bill, or other information please contact us.
Best wishes,

Patrick Dowling
Regional Head: Education, Training & Public Capacity Building

Re-planting along the Liesbeek River bank in Observatory

jason — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:32:02 +0000

Re-planting of the cleared section along the Liesbeek River in Observatory will commence on the 2nd of April, in accordance with the arrangement between Friends of the Liesbeek and Cape Nature’s Working for Wetlands program. A number of local indigenous plant species will be planted along this section, the majority of which will be various groundcovers and small shrubs. The reasoning behind using these types of plants along the bank, is to prevent a repeat of the past where dense stands of tall vegetation decreased the safety of the public and offered cover for unwanted, anti-social behaviour in a public open space. Another reason is that by using low growing vegetation, we allow for the continued existence of a visual connection between people using the path and the river, which had never existed when the alien vegetation was present. There is also the potential of creating a path right next to the river in the near future. While it is agreed that area is not looking at its finest, we again ask for your patience in this matter as the processes we are going through are a neccessary evil in order to achieve the long term goals of rehabilitation and restoration along the river.

Should have any comments, questions and/or suggestions please feel free to contact info@fol.org.za

Dead Vegetation Along Liesbeek Parkway

jason — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:45:49 +0000

It came to the attention of the Friends of the Liesbeek that there was a growing concern from residents in Observatory of the increased growth of Indian shot (Canna indica) along the river bank next to the Liesbeek Parkway, opposite Valkenberg Hospital ground. This plant had completely invaded the whole river bank, allowing little else to grow amongst it and providing cover for people wanting to partake in certain anti-social behaviour. This added cover also provided shelter for a number of vagrants, many of whom were found to be hostile to people walking their dogs or simply enjoying the space next to the river.

To try and combat these issues, the Friends of the Liesbeek together with the department of City Parks, devised a plan whereby the Indian shot would be treated with a herbicide and then cleared away once it had died. The herbicide used was found to have great success on indian shot along the Lourens River, which is also undergoing rehabilitation.

The Friends of the Liesbeek is now actively involved in having the dead vegetation removed from this area and getting various agencies to play their part in re-planting the area with indigenous vegetation. However, during this time we ask you to please bear with us as the area will look brown and barren for the next couple of months.

Should you have any further queries or want any further information regarding the project, please contact info@fol.org.za

News from the City: Project to clean up city rivers gets afloat

francine — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 06:07:43 +0000

The Cape Times ran the following article on October 20 2011 at 11:35am

Project to clean up city rivers gets afloat

Babalo Ndenze

Metro Writer

THE city council has employed 400 people to clean 14 of its most polluted rivers as part of a programme named after the late ANC stalwart Kader Asmal.

Yesterday mayor Patricia de Lille announced the river cleaning programme in honour of Asmal, who first identified the need for such an initiative to ensure a clean water supply.

The announcement was attended by Asmal’s widow, Louise.

The river cleaning is to be part of the Mayor’s Special Job Creation Project, announced by De Lille last month. Read the full article City River Project

What do you think?

See FoL committee member Kevin Winter’s response below.

Kevin Winter responds:

The Editor

Cape Times

Dear Sir / Madam

Cleaning up the City’s rivers

The Friends of the Liesbeek welcomes the Mayor’s announcement to establish a river cleaning programme (Thursday 20 October). It’s about time! Citizens, whether living in the leafy suburbs or polluted canals in Khayalitsha, are desperate for a breath of fresh political will to address decades of abuse and neglect of the City’s waterways. This kind of programme deserves broad support. We want to see a host of ‘willing to work’ people safely removing years of accumulated litter and discarded junk that fills our rivers. A clean-up will definitely help, but it will also be an exercise in futility if the root cause of the problem is not addressed. The really hard nut to crack lies in water quality and quantity. Bad planning and ineffective management have altered our catchments and left rivers with flows that are putrid in summer and scary in winter. If the programme is to do credit to Kadar Asmal’s thinking and approach to water resource management, then it needs to address these difficult issues too.

Over the last 20 years the Friends of the Liesbeek have been trying to do exactly what this programme is proposing: cleaning, planting and improving the river, and much more. It therefore came as a surprise to us that the City intends to introduce a programme that even includes the Liesbeek. The consultation is missing, but hopefully not lost. We can show how our Maintenance Project involves a planned and supervised activity operating in a complex river environment, and includes efforts to contribute to the skills and capacity of the workers on the team. We hope that the initiative will strengthen our existing programme rather than compete against the good work that has been done over many years.

Kevin Winter

Friends of the Liesbeek

Birding Big Day Saturday 26 November 2011

francine — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 07:51:40 +0000

Birding Big Day, BirdLife South Africa’s major annual fund raising event, takes place on Saturday 26 November this year.

In addition to the traditional categories (open, handicap and community) and the SABAP2 category for the avid committed birders/atlasers, there is also the Garden Bird category. All you need to do is spend a minimum of one uninterrupted hour of observation making a list of the birds that visit your garden.

You can do your BBD survey on 26 Nov. and/or any day during the week leading up to BBD (i.e. 19-25 Nov.). This year, all BBD Garden Bird lists will be curated through the MyBirdPatch website which will generate some valuable data to the MyBirdPatch database plus hopefully add some more active participants to the project. You can also record birds from a registered MyBirdPatch site or a new site which you may consider doing for BBD.

BirdLife South Africa have published a media release about the event – you can view it on the BLSA website (www.birdlife.org.za). Follow the link “Media Release” on the left hand menu or the link lower down on the first page.

Photo: James Cooper

Upcoming Events

francine — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:10:17 +0000

International Coastal Cleanup is on Saturday 17^th September. FOL have participated for several years as a result of an article in the newspaper stating that the litter on the beaches of Robben Island came from the Liesbeek. We have usually done a cleanup on Lagoon Beach down towards the mouth of the Salt River Canal. You get there by traveling along Marine Drive towards Milnerton and turning toward the sea at the Otto du Plessis / Boundary Roads intersection. Follow the road around and turn first right. We will be there from early till it’s clean – so come and give us a hand!

Another Clean-up will take place at Observatory from 9h00.

Heritage Day 24^th September

Birdwatching at the Observatory Hide

The Friends of the Liesbeek will be meeting on Saturday 24^th September at the gate at the South African Astronomical Observatory at 17h00 for an outing to the bird hide on the Raapenberg Wetland. We will also launch our participation in the MyBirdPatch Facebook page. This is a virtual atlas where everyone can log on, ask questions and note the birds found in their backyards, and is coordinated by Les Underhill from the ADU at UCT. For more information see http://mybirdpatch.adu.org.za/.

Friends of the Black and Vygekraal Rivers

francine — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:59:22 +0000

The Friends of the Black and Vygekraal Rivers are having a public meeting on Tuesday 13 September 2011, at the Rondebosch Golf Club House, Golf Course Road, Sybrand Park, at 19h00. For more information contact Jonathan Hobday 0828965529 or Sonja Pithey 0844932654.

Stunning scene along the Liesbeek

kevin — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 05:04:08 +0000

Photograph taken in the Boschenheuwel Arboretum (July 2011). Photo: Andrew Winter

City of Cape Town Spatial Development Plan and Environmental Management Framework

francine — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:41:12 +0000

In 2008 the City of Cape Town initiated a process to prepare a Spatial Development Framework for Cape Town as well as 8 integrated Spatial Development Plans / Environmental Management Frameworks (District Plans) – one for each of the planning districts of the city.

The Friends of the Liesbeek committee has participated in this process. Of interest to us are the regulations concerning the 50- and 100-year floodlines, and the restrictions concerning activities within these lines. We are also concerned with urban densification occurring in the catchment areas of the Liesbeek, for example the proposed Fernwood development off Paradise Road. Hardening of surfaces causes added run-off and increases the water flow in the Liesbeek considerably. We also need to be aware of the proposed development of the Newlands Swimming Pool and motivate for the setting back of any structures from the river bank. These and numerous other issues can be raised in your comments on the Plans.

On the basis of the public comments received, the City has finalised the Cape Town Spatial Development Framework (CTSDF) and is in the process of submitting this to the Provincial Government: Western Cape for approval.

The revised draft District Plans technical reports and summary brochures, including a summary of the public comments received on the first drafts and the City’s response to these, are available for public inspection at your local library, subcouncil office and your Planning & Building Development Management district office. The summary brochure is available in English and Xhosa/Afrikaans. You can also find this information and more background and supporting information at www.capetown.gov.za/en/sdfhttp://www.capetown.gov.za/en/sdf or by phoning 021 400 9412.

If you have any questions or comments on the final drafts of these District Plans for Cape Town please e-mail to: futurecapetown@capetown.gov.za
or send a fax to: 021 425 6495
or write to: PO Box 4511, Cape Town 8000

The closing date for comment is 30 June 2011.