In a flutter over corridor clutter in HDB estates

Overgrown plants, broken bicycles, cardboard boxes and wet laundry. HDB residents have been putting up with such corridor clutter, but should the authorities intervene when the mess gets out of hand? The Straits Times examines the issue.

A Tampines resident in April had to dismantle a koi tank he built on the four-step staircase leading to his flat despite receiving support from Tampines Town Council. The HDB had said a permanent structure should not be installed at what was fundamentally
A Tampines resident in April had to dismantle a koi tank he built on the four-step staircase leading to his flat despite receiving support from Tampines Town Council. The HDB had said a permanent structure should not be installed at what was fundamentally a common space. ST FILE PHOTO
A passionfruit plant (above) grown by Ms Louisa Tan's father, before it was chopped by the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council on May 31.
A passionfruit plant (above) grown by Ms Louisa Tan's father, before it was chopped by the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council on May 31. PHOTO: COURTESY OF LOUISA TAN
A passionfruit plant grown by Ms Louisa Tan’s father, before it was chopped (above) by the Aljunied- Hougang Town Council on May 31.
A passionfruit plant grown by Ms Louisa Tan’s father, before it was chopped (above) by the Aljunied- Hougang Town Council on May 31. PHOTO: COURTESY OF LOUISA TAN
A laundry rack installed outside a unit in Block 150 Petir Road leaves little room for people walking to and from their flats.
A laundry rack installed outside a unit in Block 150 Petir Road leaves little room for people walking to and from their flats. ST PHOTO: SALOME ONG
Toh Ting Wei
Transport Correspondent
Updated
Jun 17, 2019, 06:58 AM
Published
Jun 17, 2019, 05:00 AM
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Marketing manager Louisa Tan, 33, was taken aback last month when she found three of her father's grape and passionfruit plants outside their Housing Board flat chopped to small stumps.

A neighbour living in their Serangoon estate had complained that the plants' leaves were going into his home, prompting warnings from the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC).

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 17, 2019, with the headline In a flutter over corridor clutter in HDB estates. Subscribe

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