Response by SMS Sim Ann to the Adjournment Motion by MP Ms Joan Pereira on “Building Harmonious Communities through Responsible Use of Common Spaces in Public Housing Estates”
Nov 8, 2022
Introduction
Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank Ms Joan Pereira for passionately voicing the concerns of her residents and sharing her views on how we can better manage common spaces in public housing estates.
HDB estates are designed to be open and inclusive and to foster community bonding. In line with this philosophy, HDB estates are not gated, and remain accessible not just to residents but members of the public. We also design community gardens, void decks and other community spaces in our estates to foster interactions. Such spaces are, as a matter of policy, kept open and accessible to all. It is one of the distinctive differences between public and private housing.
In the past decade, sky gardens have been introduced to newer estates. They function as a refuge floor for fire protection in residential blocks above 40 storeys, and provide skyrise greenery. Sky gardens may include additional facilities such as fitness corners and sheltered seating areas for people to exercise together, chit chat, or gather as a community. While they are located above ground, they are in essence similar to other common spaces in public housing estates.
Disamenities on sky gardens: current situation and efforts
I understand the Member’s concerns about how some members of the public have been treating the sky gardens as an attraction. From a policy perspective, HDB cannot treat sky gardens as exclusive enclosed spaces. At the same time, we acknowledge that sky gardens are not identical in nature to the ground-level open parks and green spaces that we see in many HDB estates. Because of their elevation and the views they command, sky gardens might attract visitors who would not go out of their way to visit ground-level HDB parks. And because sky gardens can only be accessed via lifts, visitors will end up sharing these lifts with residents. This is different from ground-level HDB parks that often have multiple points of access. Thus, if the sky gardens attract an unusual volume of visitors during peak times, even residents who do not use the sky gardens regularly might feel inconvenienced by crowding in lifts or at the lift lobbies.
What we are able to do is to assist the Town Council and the local grassroots in signalling to visitors that sky gardens, while open in nature, are residential amenities and not domestic tourist attractions. Visitors should not forget that residents live very near the sky gardens or behave in an inconsiderate and irresponsible manner, such as making loud noises, smoking or littering. We do not condone this.
Therefore, HDB has been actively working with Town Councils (TCs) and various government agencies to implement measures targeted at addressing these disamenities that bring inconvenience and stress to residents. In 2016, the SkyVille SkyTerrace Taskforce was established to manage crowds at the respective sky gardens on the eve of festivities. HDB is a member of the Taskforce, along with the Residents’ Committee (RC), Tanjong Pagar Town Council (TPTC), SPF, and NEA.
To address residents’ feedback following the larger-than-expected turnout observed at SkyVille on New Year’s Eve 2020, the Taskforce ramped up its surveillance and regulation of the sky gardens by stepping up its patrols, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. This is on top of increased SPF patrols and NEA’s own patrols targeted at smoking and littering offences. More signages and CCTV cameras were installed as well.
HDB had also conducted special joint operations with MOM, NEA, and Dawson RC, to address feedback on the non-compliance of COVID-19 Safe Management Measures (SMMs) at the sky gardens.
a. From Sep to Nov 2021, the team issued advisories to members of the public on proper wearing of masks, observing safe distancing, and keeping to group size limits. For more serious breaches, HDB issued Notices of Composition (NOC) to offenders.
b. These operations have been effective. Overall, members of the public complied with the SMMs after receiving the advisories. Apart from the isolated incidents, the sky gardens were relatively quiet, with no breaches of group size limits and no serious or deliberate non-compliance of SMMs observed. Crowds also reduced steadily from about 80 at its peak to 30 towards the end of Nov 2021.
On New Year’s Eve 2021, the sky gardens at SkyVille were closed from 10pm. The Taskforce observed minimal crowds and SMMs were not breached. Groups readily dispersed and left the premises upon being advised by the Taskforce. Since then, the sky gardens have been closed nightly, with no access permitted after 10pm. Notices have been placed around the sky gardens with the help of TPTC.
Since New Year’s Eve 2020, HDB’s on-site inspections have shown that the number of visitors to the sky gardens has declined significantly and large gatherings are uncommon, with users generally cleaning up after themselves and behaving in an orderly manner. Thus far, HDB has not received any recent feedback from residents pertaining to disamenities on sky gardens.
Even though the situation on ground appears to have stabilised, we agree with the need for constant surveillance and vigilance through the use of signages and CCTV cameras to warn visitors and deter errant behaviour.
Restricting access to sky gardens
Similar to the sky garden at SkyVille, all skyrise gardens and terraces in other HDB projects, remain open to all. The Member raised the case of Pinnacle @ Duxton, where access to its 50th storey sky bridge is chargeable and gated for non-residents. The Pinnacle @ Duxton was an exception. It was assessed at the project design stage then that there was a need to limit access to its sky bridges in view of various factors, such as the development’s central location, its iconic status as the tallest HDB residential building in Singapore, as well as the novelty of the panoramic city views on offer.
Conclusion
Mr Speaker, as far as possible, we would want to preserve the open, inclusive and shared nature of HDB estates. During my visit to one of these sky gardens, I was heartened to hear Ms Pereira explain that her residents are not asking for or expecting zero visitors to the sky gardens. What they want is for the disamenities to be managed and for daily living not to be disrupted. This is a reasonable expectation, and in fact similar to resident expectations of how ground-level HDB parks are managed. Ground-level HDB parks might also attract littering, loitering or noisy congregations from time to time, but these issues are by and large addressable through advice and action on the part of agencies.
HDB will continue to work with the Member and agencies such as TCs and NEA to monitor the situation and take action to minimise any disamenities. In particular, we appreciate the efforts expended by the Member and her ground volunteers. We will also take in her feedback and study new ways to design sky gardens better in the future, to pre-empt disamenities, while keeping them open and inclusive. Notwithstanding the improvements seen on New Year’s Eve 2021 and throughout 2022, I understand that the Member is concerned about whether the crowding seen on New Year’s Eve 2020 will recur. I would be glad to join her again in monitoring the sky gardens under her charge during the upcoming year-end festive period.
I thank Ms Joan Pereira again for the opportunity to respond to her ideas and set out MND’s and HDB’s approach to this topic. Creating a quality living environment requires everyone to play a part. I hope that as a society, we can be considerate and kind to one another, and make our HDB estates an icon of gracious, inclusive and harmonious living.