The City will continue with certain maintenance and servicing of the park, but did not have funding for a capital project of this magnitude.  The Trust was successful in its ambition to secure the park by raising private funding from residents and stakeholders.

Despite the dire economic environment, there has been extraordinary interest from residents seeking a solution to secure the park, and many pledged support. We launched our formal fundraising initiative to ask residents to back this interest and fund the plans presented here.

The project commenced in phases. A minimum of R2 901 949 was required for the completion of Phase 1, which included fencing the perimeter of the park as depicted on the diagram with specific gateways. Sufficient capital was raised to complete Phase 1, contractors were appointed and the fencing was completed by April 2022. We have also given the contractor instructions to repair the fence at the top of Gorge Road as we did provide for repairs to be covered.

As part of our budget for Phase 1, we appointed a security company to have a presence in the park during the day, to unlock the gates in the morning and again lock the gates after sweeping the park.  We have sufficient funds for this to continue until June 2023. 

We also raised sufficient funding, which include commitments from residents for a further R85,000, to complete the fence along the bottom of Capel Road and next to Highlands House and which forms part of Phase 2.  The commencement of this project is on hold until building plan approval can be obtained from the City.

We have it on good authority from property agents specializing in the area that property values have been positively impacted by the redevelopment of the park. 

We would like to raise a further R1,000,000 to ensure that we can continue to have a security presence in the park for a further 24 months and that the Trust can proceed with improvements and maintenance of the park.

The Trust is a registered Public Benefit Organisation and donations are tax deductible. In order to claim the donation you need to provide the PBO number and tax certificate to SARS when submitting your annual tax return.