The City of Cape Town has begun the public participation process to rename the Little Glen Nature Reserve in Camps Bay after the late Arthur Shephard.
This comes after the Camps Bay Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association (CBRRA) submitted a proposal to the City in 2015 that the Little Glen Nature Reserve be renamed in honour of Mr Shephard who was a Camps Bay resident.
The chairperson of the City’s Naming and Nomination Committee, Brett Herron, said in a statement on Friday November 24: “According to Chris Willemse, the chairperson of the CBRRA, Mr Shephard contributed a lot of his personal time and money to transform this gem. The local community, volunteers, and the City assisted him in realising this dream.
“Following on from the discussion, the committee recommended to the City’s executive mayor, Patricia de Lille, that the City undertake a public participation process for the renaming of the reserve to Arthur Shephard’s Little Glen Nature Reserve.”
Mr Herron added that once the mayor has approved this recommendation, the City’s public participation unit will commence with the process of requesting comment and input from residents and interested and affected parties in Camps Bay.
Mr Willemse stressed that they did not want to see the iconic name of “Little Glen” disappear, rather, they wanted to see it renamed as Arthur Shephard’s Little Glen Nature Reserve.
Mr Willemse said it was worthy of a member of the community who turned the space around from something that was disused into a vibrant community park.
“The man deserves a lot of credit.”
Mr Willemse added that Mr Shephard used a lot of his own time and resources to turn the place around.
Mr Willemse described the work done by Mr Shephard as phenomenal and said that this would be a worthy honour for a dedicated community member. “We don’t want to see the name of Little Glen disappear. We submitted the application two years ago so we don’t know how long the process will take,” he added.
Mr Shephard passed away two years ago.