Twenty years of Town Councils

From the recent news report on the formation and the evolving role of Town Councils. Lets hope that the next 2 decades brings more positive evolution of this organsation and its relation with residents.

One possible improvement might be a way of scoping out the TC 'groupings' into more mentally recognisable units that are based on actual geography. That is surely how people identify with where they live.

SINGAPORE: It has been nearly 20 years since the formation of town councils in Singapore.

And Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong who was instrumental in setting up the Town Councils said they have been successful in getting the grassroots leaders to understand the linkage between what Town Councils can do and what the people must do.

In an interview with the Straits Times, one example is the service and conservancy (S&C) charges.

He explained that before Town Councils came into existence, each time S&C charges were revised by HDB, even grassroots leaders would join in the chorus to criticise the increase.

But having to decide with the Town Councils whether S&C charges must be increased, the grassroots leaders began to understand where the money was going to, where it would be spent, what provisions they were making for sinking funds and so on.

So that link between Town Councils and grassroots leaders in the housing estate has been successful.

Mr Goh said the next stage is to get residents to take a greater interest in the affairs of their Town Council.