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The Leisure and Cultural Services Department and members of the Tuen Mun District Council Leisure and Culture Committee have met representatives of seven local singing groups in the wake of complaints about the noise caused by music performances in Tuen Mun Park.
Today's (February 24) meeting was held to exchange views on options for the groups to carry out entertainment activities without causing noise annoyance.
The parties agreed to study on possible setting up of "self-entertainment zones" in the park for registered singing activities. The groups will have to exercise self-discipline and one condition would be that no external amplifiers would be allowed.
The Chairman of TMDC Leisure and Culture Committee Mr Kwu Hon-Keung said: "A special working group led by District Council member Ms Josephine Chan Shu-ying has been set up under the committee to follow up on details of the 'self-entertainment zones' proposal.
"Representatives of the singing groups and nearby residents will be invited to a meeting in two weeks' time with a view to reaching mutual consensus on the arrangement."
LCSD Assistant Director Mr Eddy Yau Kwok-yin said through education and publicity the District Council and the department had all along been appealing to the singing enthusiasts to be considerate and cease using external amplifiers so they would not create a noise annoyance.
"In view of some park users' demand for free entertainment in the park, the department will cooperate with the District Council to follow up on today's proposal, and will arrange a host of other public entertainment programmes which would not cause noise annoyance such as mime, recitation, story-telling and acoustic music like folk song performance," he said.
As there has not been the use of external amplifying equipment in the past few days creating noise annoyance, the department has re-opened the temporarily cordoned off black spots this afternoon.
"To prevent a recurrence of the noise problem, park management staff will monitor the situation closely and stop park-users from using external amplifiers in non-designated areas in the park," Mr Yau said.
The following entertainment programmes will be staged at the multi-functioned court in Tuen Mun Park from 2pm to 5pm this Sunday (February 26) including yoga demonstration, magic show, jazz dance, clown performances and story-telling.
Ends/Friday, February 24, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:42
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