The final plan for the Green Point Urban Park has been approved by Western Cape MEC for Environment, Planning and Economic Development, Tasneem Essop, who issued her Record of Decision on the design plans on 1 July 2008.

This means that work can finally begin on upgrading the precinct around the new Green Point soccer stadium ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“We are busy assessing the Record of Decision and all the implications,” said City of Cape Town spokesperson Pieter Cronje.

The City has budgeted R120-million for the urban park and golf course reconfiguration, with another R30-million set aside for the beachfront and promenade upgrade.

The vision for the design and operation of the urban park was to create a quality multi-purpose open space and sports complex that will accommodate a range of sports codes and sporting facilities, limited informal trading and a range of other recreational pursuits offering relief to inner city inhabitants. The urban park is seen as a public amenity of metropolitan significance and a space for intercultural social integration – serving the broader Cape Town community now and in the future.

The final architectural and landscaping guidelines were originally submitted by the City of Cape Town on 6 July 2007, but approval was subject to certain conditions and principles, which have now been met.

According to Essop, there were many balancing acts in the final plan, where vested interests, which had been acquired over time, had been balanced against those which had not received the attention they were due. This included the old Green Point track, which was in a state of neglect.

Essop made two non-binding recommendations to the City – that the design of the golf course be reconsidered after the 2010 FIFA World Cup in order to make more space available for general public use and other sporting codes; and that the proposal by the Western Cape Diverse Traditional Leaders Forum for a multicultural village be reconsidered.

The design conditions include accommodating the needs of the physically challenged; safety measures; natural and visually permeable boundaries around the golf course to maintain the green nature of the precinct; and an appropriate fencing and parking plan.

Operational aspects include parking; traffic calming measures, and energy and water efficiency.

Essop stated that the architectural and landscaping guidelines and the site development plans for the stadium precinct and urban park for 2010 should be completed before the stadium is operational, while the implementation of the guidelines and plans for the stadium precinct post-2010 must commence within two months of the completion of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in July 2010.

An agreement with the stadium and urban park operator must be entered into before the stadium is operational, she added. This agreement must include an urban park operational management plan that is mindful of the surrounding community, and is based on the premise that the area is for the use of all citizens of Cape Town.

The City is presently advertising for a long-term operator for the stadium.

The operational management plan should include a permitting system to accommodate the different sporting codes and other uses; a maintenance and operational plan for general use areas; a maintenance plan for the playing fields and facilities, and security and access control.

Essop agreed with conditions laid down by the Mayoral Committee, that no events are to be held in the reconstructed athletics and soccer facility at the old stadium without the approval of the City Manager and without proper consultation with the community; and that this reconstructed facility must incorporate a site specific line array (or similar) speaker system to limit noise pollution.