GALLERY: Community has their say about dam development
WESTDENE – Residents and community members participate in an environmental impact assessment.
Residents met up for a public participation meeting at the Westdene Recreational Centre on 18 May.
The meeting provided a social platform for developers and community members to speak about concerns surrounding an environmental impact assessment for the upcoming Westdene Dam upgrades.
Heading the meeting was spokesperson from Ikamva Consulting Lisolomzi Sogayise. A presentation was provided by representatives from Newtown Landscape Architects (NLA) Yonanda Martin and Erika van den Heever.
Ward 69 councillor Katja Naumann was also present at the meeting. “This type of participation is essential in ensuring that the project has the community’s best interests at heart,” she said.
Sogayise explained before the planning and implementation of the project could occur, a public participation process was followed. “The regulations require that a public participation process be conducted. The design process is currently under way and we will then integrate issues related to this environmental impact assessment within the development,” he said.
Martin’s presentation highlighted the developments planned ecological measures and findings which ranged from heritage impact assessments, fauna and flora assessments, and aquatic ecosystem delineation. “We have carefully assessed all these avenues so that the community and the development could have a clear understanding of what these changes could bring to the Westdene Dam’s upgrade,”she said.
Martin went on to explain that a draft report on the findings presented at the meeting will be made available to the public on 1 June. This report will be made available on the NLA website; as a hardcopy from the Westdene residents association, and at the Brixton, Westbury, and Melville public libraries.
Once the presentation was finished the floor was opened to residents to voice their concerns. These involved issues of security, accessibility, pollution, and how the development will be communicated to the surrounding community.
