HDB residents call for more to be done about littering, cleanliness at public sky gardens

SINGAPORE: Residents of Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks with sky gardens hope to see more done about littering and cleanliness at these publicly accessible facilities. 

Food waste and overflowing rubbish bins are routinely seen at these communal spaces, several residents told CNA. 

While inconsiderate crowds and loud noises also remain a problem, this issue mainly surfaces on public holidays or weekends. 

“The concerns are true, but on a day-to-day basis, it’s more of the cleanliness,” said a resident of SkyVille @ Dawson who only wanted to be known as Ms Leow. 

She has lived there for nearly seven years and goes to the sky garden to exercise almost daily. 

“What happens is I think people treat it as a public park, but it lacks the common facilities like a public park has, like a public toilet for example,” she told CNA. 

“So there’s no place that people can either wash up or answer nature’s call, so sometimes I would find that the stairwell reeks of urine.” 

This feedback comes after Member of Parliament Joan Pereira tabled an adjournment motion in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 8) on building cohesive communities through the responsible use of common spaces.

She shared that inconsiderate visitors of sky gardens at HDB blocks have caused nuisance to residents. 

Ms Pereira (PAP-Tanjong Pagar) called for more measures to ensure security and crowd control, adding that many government agencies and even the police have been involved to try to minimise the inconvenience. 

Residents have to cope with dirty lifts, overflowing rubbish bins, littering, illegal smoking and loud partying in common areas, while cleaners have to deal with cigarette butts and alcohol bottles left by visitors, Ms Pereira said in Parliament.

“On weekends, visitors go to these gardens late at night too and their noise also disturbs residents trying to sleep.”

Ms Pereira added that her volunteers have patrolled the sky gardens after 10pm for the past two years, to remind visitors to leave so that residents get their rest. 

While she did not specify in her speech which estates she was referring to, she told CNA that she was talking about SkyVille@Dawson, which is near Queenstown MRT station.

THE SMELL OF SMOKING

Ms Leow, who lives one level below the sky garden on the 36th floor, said she is less affected by noise as visitors tend to favour the rooftop sky garden on the 47th floor. 

“It happens but not very frequently. But of course when it does, they do make some noise. Sometimes my husband would go up and find some young people, and just tell them, and most of the time they will then leave the place,” she added. 

“Sometimes it could be smoking, we can smell it.” 

While they get a steady stream of visitors, the sky gardens only get crowded during special occasions like National Day or New Year’s Eve, with many people heading up to watch the fireworks, said Ms Leow.

When CNA visited SkyVille @ Dawson on Wednesday evening, there were a few groups of people having dinner, exercising or taking a walk. 

Security cameras have been set up, and there are signs to remind visitors that entry to the sky gardens on levels 36 and 47 is only permitted from 7am to 10pm every day. There are also a few rubbish bins in each garden. 

“These are all the extra things that residents here have to do that other blocks don’t have to go through … I kind of came to the conclusion that maybe with HDBs being public, it’s just unsuited to having sky gardens unless there’s some way to control access to it,” said Ms Leow. 

“I think all these issues may not have been something that they actually thought of when they came out. On paper, it sounds pretty nice, but not in practice.” 

 At another popular sky garden at Pinnacle @ Duxton, visitors have to register and pay a S$6 fee to access the 50th-storey rooftop via a turnstile gantry. Numbers are capped at 200 a day.

“It sounds like it would probably take care of a lot of the problems. And I mean for sure, there would not be so many people wanting to come," added Ms Leow. 

Another SkyVille @ Dawson resident noted that for National Day this year, a patrol team was set up to direct visitors to only use one lift to access the sky gardens. 

“I think the disturbance was minimal for the residents, because all the people coming in, they just directed all the visitors to use only the first lift. After 10pm they were told to leave, so it’s actually quite ok,” said Mr Wong Yang Cheng. 

Mr Wong, who moved into his 24th-floor unit in February, said he does not visit the sky gardens often, but has not heard any noise coming from the one right above him on the 25th floor. 

“I do notice that on weekends there are people who are definitely not residents here who come and visit, but I think generally they are quite all right," said Mr Wong who explained that he is not bothered by the visitors. He added that many of them head to the gardens for a picnic or to record TikTok videos. 

"JUST FULL OF RUBBISH"

For Mr Nicholas Ong, who lives two floors above the sky garden at St George’s Towers in Boon Keng, cigarette smoke and ants are his two main concerns. 

“Sometimes we will smell smoke outside our house, and sometimes it gets blown in as well, because the wind can be strong. Sometimes there’s barbeque smell,” he added with a chuckle. 

While there is some noise, the situation has improved since a gate was installed at the start of this year. The sky garden is locked at 10pm every day. 

“For me, actually it’s not so bad, but there are other neighbours who complain of the noise … I just need to close the door then I won’t really hear them anymore, but only when I leave it open then I might hear them,” said Mr Ong. 

However, food waste and littering still remain a major concern, he said, adding that he sees residents complaining about food left behind in the sky garden every day. 

It gets many student visitors from the nearby secondary school, said Mr Ong. 

“A lot of groups of people like to bring food up to eat. And they just leave the food wrappers and everything everywhere. After they use the place, there won’t be a square meter of clean area, everywhere is just full of rubbish,” he told CNA, adding that there is rubbish thrown on the plants too. 

“And they really don’t care. There are residents going down to take video of the kids, and they just don’t care, they just continue talking and ignoring the resident.” 

He believes that this has led to more ant problems in the estate.

“Usually my house doesn’t have any single ant at all. When they (visitors) come, it’s just overnight, the whole house filled with ants. They just came in swarms, invaded the whole house,” he said, adding that this has already happened twice. 

Those visiting the sky garden are also occasionally rowdy and often play loud music. Prior to the installation of the gate this year, Mr Ong said he would hear visitors arriving past midnight. 

He and other neighbours have called the police when visitors turned noisy or unruly. 

Once, a group hurled vulgarities at Mr Ong and his wife from outside after the pair entered the lift, and he decided to call the police as they posed a nuisance. 

“It’s quite common to see the police car come over,” he added. 

He noted that the addition of the locked gate also means residents can no longer enjoy the sky garden after 10pm. 

“They should have card access, that would be best … But I think that’s a bit exclusive, so I think gating the sky garden and then having gated access by password or something is ok,” said Mr Ong. 

“If you really want to open to public… Technology is so advanced now, maybe I think the best is phone verification. And then you have cameras, and you just find whoever litters or makes noise, and you can see immediately who’s making a ruckus.” 

DRINKING AND "INTIMATE ACTIVITIES"

Mr Daryl Tan, who moved into SkyOasis @ Dawson in January this year, noted that the sky gardens on each floor are not linked between blocks, making them less popular and crowded compared to those at other estates. 

Mr Tan's unit is on the 37th floor, two levels above one of the sky gardens.

Noise problems persist past midnight because there are no restrictions, unlike those at Skyville @ Dawson, he said. 

“Sometimes at night, because we are quite close to each other, so I can look across from my balcony, I can see the other block’s sky garden. I can see that there are people hanging out there. Sometimes they make quite a lot of noise, so it can still be heard,” he added. 

Some of his neighbours have also noticed that there are rough sleepers who stay overnight.

“Because there are no public toilets, (the residents) feel like they will relieve themselves there. But I think nothing much can be done,” said Mr Tan. 

Another SkyOasis @ Dawson resident who lives on the 25th floor said he has observed people drinking at the sky garden, or using the facility for “intimate activities”. 

“These are not monitored, moderated and patrolled. It is certainly difficult to form volunteer groups to constantly patrol these places for such activities,” said the resident who wanted to be known as Mr Paul.

While sky gardens are a great feature of HDB blocks if they are used responsibly, the SkyOasis @ Dawson resident hoped for more facilities such as exercise corners or a playgrounds. 

“Overall, the sky garden may play a big role in creating a conducive environment for residents and non-residents only if there are some form of controls that the residents can do," he added. 

"Otherwise, with its existence, it does nothing more than create more nuisance to not only the immediate neighbours around it, but also the whole neighbourhood.”