Alderman Marian Nieuwoudt, Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment.
Three of the St.
James Beach bathing boxes were burnt down and a further two partially damaged as a result of the fire which took place during the early hours of Saturday morning, 8 August 2020.
The City's Fire
and Rescue Service managed to extinguish the fire, however, the cause is still unknown.
These bathing boxes are a significant part of the history and landscape of St.
James beach .
Prior to the fire occurring the beach boxes were in a poor state due to a combination of wear and tear and vandalism.
The City, therefore, had already drafted a proposal for the refurbishment of these beach boxes as part of its Coastal Optimization plan.
The City shares the public's view of the importance of these beach boxes as an iconic and historical part of the St.
James landscape and assures the public that they will remain part of the St James landscape in the future.
The challenging
maintenance and security issues associated with these bathing boxes is currently being revisited and addressed through the City's Coastal Optimisation process.
Proposed solutions have been developed and will be communicated to the public once endorsed by the City.
It should, however, be noted that considering our current societal challenges in public places it is increasingly difficult to retain and maintain these kinds of accessible and open public assets as they are very prone to high levels of vandalism, public security risks and abuse.
We, however, do understand and share the sentiment that the bathing boxes form a very important part of Cape Towns' coastal sense of place and identity and we will do our utmost to attain a meaningful and measured balance in retaining some aspects of this into the future.
Click here to Edit social accounts