Councillor Clinton Lerm, Mayco Member of Investment and Infrastructure welcomed the judging panel from the National Arbor City Awards to the Overstrand this morning, 3 November 2022, on behalf of Cllr Ronald Nutt who is attending the National Blue Flag Launch in Plettenberg Bay. The Overstrand has once again been awarded Blue flag Status for five of our beaches.
The judging panel is in Hermanus for a two-day briefing session which constitutes a ‘think tank’ concerning the process of the annual Arbor City Awards. The year 2022 marks the 20th year of the Arbor City Award competition.
Cllr Lerm confirmed council’s commitment to the environment. “We really need to take good care of the world we live in to ensure quality working/living environments,” he added.
Overstrand Municipality is the proud winner of the National Arbor City Award 2022 for local municipalities. The competition provides incentives and rewards to municipalities who are doing their best in terms of greening and landscape development and management, especially in the new settlement areas, in particular homesteads, street tree planting, creation of parks for aesthetics and recreation, management of open spaces, plant species conservation, use of water wise techniques as well as greening advocacy.
One thing that impressed the judges in the POE submitted was the Tree Management System that is currently being put in place. This consists of the collection of data of all municipal owned trees. E.g. type of tree, height, work needed, address etc.
After the debriefing, the judging panel will also visit the Harold Porter Botanical Gardens.
