Bryanston residents get together to discuss and share ideas on green spaces
Bryanston residents gathered to share ideas on securing green spaces and want to put their plans into action early in 2023
A group of residents held a meeting to discuss a community-driven initiative to secure the green spaces in Bryanston for safe access and to eliminate alien vegetation on November 26 at Klein Jukskei Greenbelt.
The meeting was aimed to get more people involved to assist City Parks in making sure that the parks are clean, safe to use, and are free from alien plants.
The organiser Philip Wood said, “The objective for this meeting is to bring as many people as possible who live in the Bryanston area together who have an interest in looking after the public spaces. We want to make all those areas safe and attractive for the community. At the same time, we want to learn which plants should be in the parks. We want to learn more about alien and invasive plants and how should City Parks replace those with indigenous plants.”
The green spaces can be massive parks, bird sanctuaries, and small areas where roads intersect.
Cameroon McGregor from the Klein Jukskei Greenbelt Initiative (KJGI) said that the meeting is very important in terms of growing awareness and getting interested parties involved in looking after the green spaces.
“At the moment the city has bigger challenges. City Parks has limited resources. If we want to make our green spaces safe, clean and accessible for all to use then we need to leverage people who are enthusiastic and create awareness. Hopefully, get some more sponsorship from companies and cooperates that can help keep the green spaces.” said McGregor.
Nick Brown who’s doing work for Cumberland Bird Sanctuary, explained that they need to assist City Parks in making the sanctuary better.
“There are many alien plants growing in there. The way they approach clean up in the park is not good for growing animals and birds. They burn and cut trees that the birds are housing. We need need to maintain this space as a bird sanctuary and we need to understand more about alien plants,” Brown told Randburg Sun
He also added that few residents are helping with cleaning and making sure the sanctuary is safe. “We now need to say how do we make this a better space for the community. We need to spread it to the rest of the community. It is a bird sanctuary and people deserve to experience it.”
Brown explained that the meeting is important because lessons are learned. “If we work together as a community, it’s better. We are able to share ideas. We have a stronger voice and there is more access to resources,” said Brown.
“We want to look after these parks. The budget, staff, and equipment are not there, so it does need some of the residents to assist the City about safety and taking out the alien plants,” said Wood.
He added that from the beginning of February 2023 they would like to have an action team to make things happen. “We have two months over the Christmas season to try and put plans in place.”
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