*******************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Howard Young and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue (in the absence of Secretary for Home Affairs) at the Legislative Council meeting today (June 13):
Question:
Since April this year, the Government and community groups have been organising different activities in various districts in Hong Kong to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Given that some celebration activities held outdoors may cause nuisance and inconvenience to residents in the neighbourhood, will the Government inform this Council of the number of the above activities organised by the Government and community groups since April this year that were held outdoors, and whether the Government has received complaints about such activities; if it has, of the major subject matters of the complaints and the measures the Government will take to reduce the number of similar complaints as far as possible, so as to enable the remainder of the celebration activities to be held smoothly without affecting residents in the neighbourhood?
Reply:
Madam President,
Since April this year, various events have been launched to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. As at end May, of the 460 events included in the Government's 10th Anniversary Celebrations Events Calendar, a total of 114 celebration events, organised by the Government or non-governmental organisations, have already taken place. Among them, 26 were held outdoors. Four of these events have attracted a total of 26 complaints, and they were all noise-related.
In preparing for the celebration events, the relevant Government departments have borne in mind the need to avoid causing nuisance and inconvenience to the public, particularly residents in the neighbourhood. As a large number of these celebrations are district functions, the 18 District Offices have also reminded organisers of outdoor events to avoid causing noise nuisance to nearby residents as far as possible. For instance, they have been advised to arrange for events to be held at locations as distanced from residential areas as possible, and that the stage as well as the public address system should not be facing residential buildings. Some organisations may also be requested to carry out noise assessment when the event is in progress. In the event that the noise is found to exceed the permitted level, or if complaints about noise nuisance are received, the organiser will be asked to reduce the noise level immediately to minimise the impact on nearby residents. The District Offices will continue their efforts in monitoring the situation.
Ends/Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Issued at HKT 13:11
NNNN
