Stakeholders with a vested interest in the improvement of the Town Centre Central Business District meet monthly to discuss progress, table concerns and map the way forward for the business hub.
In their August meeting, held on Thursday last week, the Mitchell’s Plain Area Coordinating Team (Act) opened the meeting to the public for the first time.
Local ward councillors, stall associations, business owners, Law Enforcement, Metro Police, the Mitchell’s Plain Community Policing Forum (CPF), police, Fire and Rescue and Traffic Services, are some of the parties who form part of Act.
Included in the agenda were several presentations from law enforcement agencies, operation statistics, special projects and developments, among others.
Among the topics receiving attention, the stakeholders also discussed the progress of the Special Ratings Area for the Town Centre (“Special ratings area on the cards”, People’s Post, 29 May).
Ward councillor for the area Solomon Philander commended the business owners who have come on board.
“We must acknowledge the property owners who are willing to pay more and the stall owners who have come on board to see improvement in the Town Centre,” said Philander in the meeting.
He added that there was a concerted effort to underplay the developments taking place in the centre, by others wanting to convince residents nothing was being done.
Another matter receiving attention was bylaw infringement by traders, trading outside their permitted bays, vacant bays and permit holders not paying their instalments.
There are as many as 400 bays that will be made available for rental, officials revealed at the meeting.
Ashley Potts, CPF deputy chairperson, also presented successes and challenges faced during their month-long Mayoral Urban Regeneration Project (MURP) funded volunteer deployment to the Centre from May to June (“More volunteers make centre safer”, People’s Post, 15 May).
Other developments on the cards include a storage facility, manned by members of the local hawkers’ associations as part of job creation, safety and development in the centre.
Act chairperson, ward 82 councillor and subcouncil 12 chairperson, Sheval Arendse, says the initiative was started by Philander.
“It started last year when I was asked to host the meetings monthly instead of quarterly,” he says.
The meeting is a closed meeting for vested parties and is hosted once per month.