GUIDELINES FOR GATED COMMUNITY n GUARDED NEIGHBOURHOOD

The Ministry of Housing and Local Government, through the Town and Country Planning Department, has come up with a guideline for Gated Community and Guarded Neighborhood.

This guideline, approved by the Cabinet and the Majlis Negara bagi Kerajaan Tempatan on 28 July and 2 September 2010 respectively, will be tabled at individual State Planning Committee for adoption and implementation at the state level.

The table below is a summary of the differences between a Gated Community (GC) and Guarded Neighborhood (GN).

Gated Community (With Strata Title)
Definition:

A group of residents or community living within a gated and guarded residential area, be it high-rise property such as apartment, condominium or townhouses or landed property such as bungalows, terrace, link or semi-detached houses with strata titles.

Limited to urban areas.

Size of the scheme is between 1ha and 10ha, or 200-500 units.

Schemes larger than 10ha needs to be broken into smaller schemes.

Cannot build embankment that separates GC and non GC completely.

Social impact assessment must be done.

Allocate space for interaction in the environmental design.

Managed by a Management Corporation.

Prepare two entrance-exit points, one as main entrance and the other for emergency.

Perimeter fencing of height not more than 9 feet, with at least 50% visible.

Entrance equipped by CCTV and road humps.

Boom gate cannot be erected on public roads.

Guardhouse size of 1.8m x 2.4m is allowed to be built within the GC.

The houses cannot be more than 4 levels (18.5 meters) from basement.

Visitor’s parking must be allocated.

Provision of common facilities.


Guarded Neighbourhood (w/ Individual Title)
Definition:

A partially or fully controlled area in existing or new housing schemes with individual land titles. The schemes provide security with or without guardhouses. Cannot place physical obstacles on the roads and stop residents and the public from exiting and entering the areas.

Limited to urban areas, in particular, areas with high crime rate.

Local councils can control the number of units in a scheme to ensure proper control and effective management.

Not allowed in neighbourhood with public facilities, or part of public bus route.

Establishment of GN needs to be proposed by registered Residents Association and

supported by majority of the residents and submitted to local councils.

Perimeter fencing is not allowed.

Temporary physical obstacles, such as manual boom gate, cones, etc, can be considered

provided guards are stationed at the locations 24 hours.

Closing of backlanes and sidelines is prohibited.

Guardhouse size not bigger than 1.8m x 2.4m is allowed.

If permanent guardhouse is to be erected on road shoulders, a Temporary Occupation

License (TOL) must be obtained from the land office.

Guards need to registered with Home Ministry.


Source: The Starmetro,
Thursday 14th Oct 2010