Ongoing greening initiatives, social housing planned in parts of Woodstock and the new homeless coalition were some of the key discussions during the Woodstock Resident’s Association (WRA) Annual General Meeting.
The AGM was held late last month and coincided with a community day held at the Woodstock Library.
Ute Kuhlmann, committee member, says during the meeting the WRA reported back on last year’s activities and discussed, among other things, the social housing planned at Pine Road, Dillan Lane, St James Street, the old hospital and the lower part of Victoria Walk Park and New Market Street.
Kuhlmann says: “The thread connecting all the concerns raised is how to improve communication with the various stakeholders so that the community’s concerns are heard and taken seriously and that official decisions are not made top-down without adequate community participation and influence.”
Kuhlmann says the purpose of the community day was to create a get-together where residents can share information, discuss and find common approaches to solving problems in the community and to enjoy the entertainment.
Kuhlmann explains that the aim of the association is to promote and support the wellbeing of all residents living in Woodstock and to improve the area.
“WRA liaises with other local organisations and institutions, like the ward councillors and various city departments, U-Watch, the Peace Park, Friends of Trafalgar Park, police, Heritage Western Cape, the Woodstock Improvement District, and the Liquor Board, and on many different issues affecting our area, including greening and cleaning, safety and building applications.”
Kuhlmann says existing members Andrea Couvert, Bevil Lucas, Crispian Swarbreck, Deon Wolf, Dirk Uys, James O’Regan, Ndodana Habebe, Patty Price and Ute Kuhlmann were re-elected. Joining them are new committee members, Ava von Willingh, John Hendricks, and Zelda Johnson.
She adds that the executive positions have not been assigned yet. They will be elected within the committee during a meeting later this month.
- Working to make the existing parks accessible and safe and motivate for maintaining, upgrading and adding new green spaces in Woodstock, especially in the area between Victoria Road and Albert Road;
- implement their existing greening plans for Main (Victoria Road);
- influence the design of the planned social housing at the Old Hospital and the bowling green and Al Noor site to reflect the community’s needs and Woodstock’s heritage;
- Convince the City to upgrade the soccer field/dog park area of Victoria Walk Park at the same time;
- Get the new Woodstock Town Hall space involved in community activities;
- Get inclusionary housing and business opportunities provided in multi-storey private mixed use commercial/residential developments;
- Engage with developers around heritage and planning.
Kuhlmann encouraged residents to become involved with the association.
“It is important that WRA has a mandate to speak on behalf of as many residents as possible and can show that it is indeed a powerful body. Therefore, we encourage all residents to become members of WRA. We are also always looking for people to join the committee and its subcommittees on greening, cleaning, heritage, community engagement, culture, sports and safety.”
She says the membership fee is R50 per year on a voluntary basis.
