The precinct is very well provided for in terms of facilities, which serve not only the local community but also the city as a whole.
(a) Commercial Facilities
The commercial facilities located on Gleneagles Road, Olifants Road, Barry Hertzog Avenue and Tyrone Avenue provides the precinct with a local shopping area comprising a full range of shops: supermarkets, greengrocers, butchers, pharmacists, liquor stores, specialty shops, restaurants, etc. The Gleneagles commercial strip is also becoming an educational plinth with the presence of various learning and training colleges.
A large office development on Victory Road and the office component of the commercial centres provide adequate other business facilities.
There are two service stations located on Barry Hertzog Avenue, on erf 1117 and erf 1108, both on the Emmarentia side.
(b) Post Office, Library and Police Station
The Emmarentia Post Office, the Greenside Post Office, Parkview Post Office, Parkview Library, Greenside Public Library. They are located adjacent to the commercial areas and thereby add to these nodes functioning as community centres.
The Parkview Police Station is associated with the Community Forum and Block Watch and serves this precinct as a whole.
(c) Religious Facilities
Churches of many denominations with their associated social services are located throughout the precinct.
Erven 1095 and 1097at the corner of Ingalele Road and Barry Hertzog Avenue houses a mosque, which serves the growing Muslim community of the area.
Erven 573, 574, 575, 576 and 576 on Selkirk Road houses the Coptic Church.
(d) Open Spaces
Van Riebeeck Park, Melville Koppies Nature Reserve, Louw Geldenhuys View Park, Sir Lionel Phillips Park, George Hay Park, Zoo Lake, Emmarentia Dam and a small park in Greenside are all public open spaces which serve both the local residents, adjacent areas, and the city wide community.
Melville Koppies is a unique 160ha nature reserve and national heritage site close to the city centre of Johannesburg. It was established as a nature reserve in 1959 and a national heritage site in 1968. Other sections, with different status, were added to it up to 1992. The land is owned by the council. It is managed by the volunteer Melville Koppies Management Committee, which liases with Johannesburg City Parks (JCP), a section 21 company. JCP maintains the structures, provides three daily security guards and a worker for the central section.
Melville Koppies is well used by a very widespread community for education, research, recreation and religious observance.
The area is rich in fauna and flora and has a strong archaeological importance as well.
It is however under great pressure due to it's location within the urban framework. Some of these threats include:
Property developers not considering the impact of their developments on the environment and the community.
- Authorisation of the use of the Koppies without a full understanding thereof to the detriment thereof
- Encroachments by residents who live adjacent to green areas (both legal and illegal)
- Illegal dumping of rubble, garden refuse and litter
- Vehicular encroachment onto the Koppies which leads to the destruction thereof
- Vagrants who destroy the flora and fauna and generally pollute green areas
- Contamination of water courses
- Alien vegetation along water courses.
The Parkview Golf Course provides a facility for local residents and the city users. Although it is a private open space it acts as a green lung for the area and the city. The golf course is also an essential component of the stormwater management and nature trail system of the city.
