GREWER STREET PARKING
The committee members of the Dome Guides Association and representatives of Ngwathe Municipality, Ngwathe Tourism Forum, Wild Life Conservation Trust and Park Run held an onsite inspection at Grewer Ave, Parys, at 10:00 on Wednesday, the 11th of May 2016.
The reason was to determine how best to discourage members of the public to use the public open (park) areas along the river as a drive through and parking area.
In the past the Ngwathe Municipality erected notice boards and a cement barrier in the form of waist high poles. The signs and some of the poles has since then been removed and broken in order to let vehicles drive through. In the process most of the lawn was destroyed and all kinds of new roads was created, causing both a security and safety risk for pedestrians making use of the park area.
This is also a popular launching site for adventure operators which require easy access to the river and parking for some of their clients and riverbank is important for tourism industry in Parys, the Park Run and the general public make use of these facilities on a daily basis.
The following commitments and proposals were made to address the parking and access issues at these areas:
Maintenance, such as the cutting of the grass and emptying of rubbish bins by Ngwathe Municipality will be undertaken on a more regular basis.
For the time being three new notice boards will be put up to inform the public that it is a no parking zone for any vehicle, quad bikes included.
In the near future the barrier poles will be moved further away from the pavement to create angle parking, thereby addressing the need for parking close to the river. A dedicated parking bay with locked dropdown poles will be created for the municipality and adventure operators. Adventure operators will therefore be required to register with the municipality to gain access to this dedicated off-load area.
People will be reminded on a regular basis via the media and Facebook to be proud of the town by keeping its parks and the trail alongside the river save and clean.