THE National Development Ministry will launch a series of public consultations over the next few months to get feedback on just how Town Councils should be evaluated.

The feedback will be used to formulate the criteria that the town councils will be evaluated on, said a statement from MND on Thursday.

This set of criteria will be released in late September and will culminate next year in a Town Council Management Report which will measure the performance of all 16 town councils.

For a start, MND said they are looking at three major areas for assessment: cleanliness, maintenance and financial management.

They will refine these categories, or add more, based on the feedback they receive.

Starting from the end of June, three dialogue sessions with residents and town council staff will be held as part of the consultation.

Members of the public can give their views online at a website that will be set up.

Additionally, MND will seek views from industry experts, such as accountants, property consultants and academics.

Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu said it would not be an easy task to compare the different town councils, as each has a different profile of residents and buildings.

Said Ms Fu: 'The ultimate objective is for the residents to be better informed, so that they can play a part in shaping our housing estates into a more pleasant place for all to live in.'