New community panel tackling neighbourhood noise, other initiatives to improve living environment

Noise complaints in neighbourhoods will be subjected to guidelines by a new panel, said Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann in Parliament on Tuesday (Mar 8).

In her speech at the Community of Supply Debate, Ms Sim outlined several initiatives to create a pleasant living environment and better user experiences.

Named the Community Advisory Panel on neighbourhood noise, it aims to tackle the rise in complaints amid the pandemic.

The panel, which will consist of mediators, community leaders and experts, intends to submit its recommendations within this year.

Ms Sim said the panel, set up by the Municipal Services Office (MSO) and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, will engage and conduct surveys with the public to establish “community norms”.

“These norms will provide some reference in terms of what is generally acceptable or unacceptable noise disturbances in the community, what could constitute unreasonable or inconsiderate behaviour, and what will be good norms that residents can observe to reduce noise disturbances to neighbours,” MSO said. 

Aside from a new panel, Ms Sim announced an Alliance for Action set up to better facilitate group buy activities in HDB estates.

Co-led by People’s Association and HDB, the coalition aims to identify solutions for practical issues that arise such as cluttered common corridors and blocked walkways. 

“We would like to identify win-win solutions so that residents can continue to engage in group buying and support small businesses, while minimising inconvenience to others,” Ms Sim said.

Members of the coalition will also include group buy hosts, grassroots leaders and potential solution providers from the private sector. 

Together, they will explore better ways of facilitating the delivery, storage and distribution of group buy items, such as utilising HDB void decks, she said. 

In her speech, Ms Sim also spoke of recent and upcoming changes to the OneService app and services.

With a user base of 430,000 residents currently, she mentioned new app features like crowd level checks at public libraries, as well as payment and booking processes for town council facilities.

Instead of having to produce supporting documents at the town council office, residents now need only to provide consent and the personal information can be retrieved from official sources.

To make the e-services more accessible, Ms Sim said residents can also use the LifeSG app in the later half of this year to submit municipal feedback.

“Together, we hope that tighter collaboration in the delivery of municipal services will bring greater convenience and satisfaction to residents,” she said.