Thank you for your support.
On 25 Apr 2019, the due date set by URA, we have sent an email to MND, stating the following:
“Dear Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Development (MND),
We refer to the Draft Master Plan 2019 and note that Henderson Park (http://bit.ly/OneMap- HendersonPark) was slated to make way for a residential site, thus no longer listed.
We would respectfully request for the Ministry to consider retaining Henderson Park, based on the following grounds:-
1. Collective memory of residents
Henderson Park was built in the 1980s and officially opened in 1991. Although some facilities have been removed few years ago, the park is still able to support its residents, young and old, with a spectrum of ground-initiated activities ranging from seeking passive relaxation, exercising of pets, interaction with nature, games/group exercises at basketball and soccer courts, to chatting spots for people etc. Similar to Toa Payoh Dragon playground, residents have over decades forged their sense of belonging and identity through common sharing of the park's collection of well-aged greenery, natural setting and exercise facilities.
2. To supplement Tiong Bahru Park
Tiong Bahru Park has served the nearby community well since 1970s, with gardens, jogging tracks and open spaces allowing for multiple work-out clusters to perform Taiji and group exercise moves. These bottom-up daily groups' healthy behavior have transformed the park into a very positive and dynamic exercising environment. However unfortunately the park is too crowed and lack of open spaces to support more group exercises resulted in disputes among groups. This limitation also discouraged some people to conduct group exercise at the park. Please watch a short video of park users on a typical morning here (https://youtu.be/x_TR8kqQV9g?t=18). With the rapidly ageing population, the demand for more open spaces for group exercises in the park will certainly be increased drastically.
Henderson Park, which is opposite the bustling ground, is the preferred solution to taking on the overflowing vitality from neighbouring Tiong Bahru Park. We are confident our Government's leadership is capable of seamlessly integrating both parks into another signature park, similar to how NParks made Bishan-AMK Eco-Park happened despite all odds then. As Mr. Herbert Dreiseitl highlighted in a recent Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) lecture on 16 April 2019, to quote, “besides relying on regulations, how can we transcend conventional, short-term approaches to use common sense and priorities qualities like resilience and beauty?”
3. More Open Spaces for Group Exercises
A public park with ample proper open spaces to facilitate group exercises is vital for the community, as group dynamics is key in motivating old folks in sustaining daily exercise. This is a long-term solution for the elderly to build and maintain a virtuous cycle in taking control of their health by countering physical inactivity. We feel more could be done in this domain.
To quote our Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat during the Budget 2019 debate round-up speech, “… I am always very happy to see groups of seniors coming together regularly in parks, or other public spaces, to exercise – doing line dancing or Zumba Gold together. In fact, I understand that many seniors are exercising regularly in over 400 locations across the island. This is a good sign, and I hope there will be even more of such groups in the years to come.”
4. Expansion of Therapeutic Green Spaces
Green spaces in urban environments allow residents to re-connect with Mother Nature, thereby deriving physiological and psychological benefits, serving up natural solutions to curb chronic illnesses. We are very happy to see this advantage being embodied by Nparks through Therapeutic Gardens, including one at our compact Tiong Bahru Park. However unlike other three therapeutic gardens at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, HortPark and Choa Chu Kang Park, Tiong Bahru Park is too crowded to make the therapeutic garden achieve its desired outcome.
Henderson Park could be the solution. It could be part of this program in order to ease Tiong Bahru Park's limited space challenges and better balance the desire for more open spaces for group exercises and therapeutic green spaces.
5. Ageing Population Trend in Bukit Merah
The Department of Statistics Singapore has listed Bukit Merah as one of four key zones in Singapore with the highest proportion of residents aged 65 and above in 2018, with approximate representations of one in every four residents. As we know, this ageing trend is inevitably set to grow. We believe the demand for public park, especially the open spaces for group exercises in this zone will shoot up. Therefore relevant Government agencies need to manage this challenge more urgently than other places in Singapore.
We have started on 14 April 2019 an online petition campaign named “Save Henderson Park”, in an attempt to educate the general public, collate the voices who share our values and support our petition. As at 24 April 2019, our petition campaign has garnered more than 1,800 supporters:
Online Petition to Save Henderson Park
We hope to have dialogues with MND and other relevant agencies to understand and seek for the solution collectively.
Thank you. “
On 29 April 2019, the MND has formally replied to “confirm that our feedback email on Henderson Park has been received, and will be looked into before responding to us in due time”.
Upon receipt of such response, we will keep you posted.