WESTVILLE residents have launched a non-profit organisation, Keep Westville Beautiful (KWB), to restore and maintain the suburb’s beautiful environment.
A letter in the 1 March edition of the Highway Mail highlighted the pleasure of seeing a group of concerned citizens clearing the verge in Westville central.
“The urgent need to address the quality of the environment of Westville is at the heart of a new organisation that we have just formed to address this issue in a big way!” said chairman of Keep Westville Beautiful, Ivor Daniel.
KWB plans to engage with the businesses, the council and ordinary citizens of Westville, forming a public/private partnership to ensure the public environment is upgraded and maintained.
“The plan is to raise awareness but also to implement landscaping projects, supported by businesses in the area, by regularly contributing to the not-for-profit company, which in turn will carry out the projects but importantly, also ensure ongoing maintenance,” said Daniel.
KWB, as a company will enjoy a 18A tax status, which provides business and individuals tax relief on any contributions made for this purpose.
The work will require ongoing maintenance to ensure a continuous quality environment, reflecting and being commensurate with the quality of the businesses and citizens supporting the initiative.
“As most of the public environment is in municipal land ownership, we have already commenced engaging with all municipal departments at the highest level, ensuring there is commitment to supporting this private initiative,” added Daniel.
He highlighted that the council departments under the co-ordination of the Area Based Management Unit in the City Managers department, departments such as Parks, Solid Waste, Roads are already involved in establishing an open space GIS system for the identification of departmental responsibilities of land parcels.
ALSO READ: What the Westville, M13 upgrades mean for you
KWB is also working closely with the Westville Conservancy whose aim is to revitalise and restore a quality environment and will assist by creating awareness of Westville’s bio-diversity in areas outside the central business area but which are extremely vital to a healthy environment for all the the citizens of Westville.
“The environmental quality of the M13 arterial route, passing through the heart of Westville, impacts on the public perception of Westville as a quality environment to live and work in. KWB is therefore engaged with aspects of maintenance along the length of the freeway as well as in respect to the areas of the on and off ramps. These concerns are being addressed by council and province, which we as an organisation will participate in,” Daniel said.
He added that the resultant impact of a coordinated plan to undertake and maintain the public environment will obviously impact positively on property values. “It is in everyone’s interest to fully support and participate in this initiative to make Westville great,” he said.
All interested citizens and businesses, who wish to associate with the organisation can contact Ivor Daniel on 083 252 3566 or email: idaniel@daniel-architects.co.za
Do you want to receive alerts regarding this and other Highway community news via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message (not an sms) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
