Environmental Considerations in Land Use

Planning and Development Control

9 June 2022
SCPTA Training Programme on “Water Resource, Stormwater and Environmental
Management” for the Government Officials of Laos

Presented by: Lim Yan Ru, Deputy Principal Engineer

Development Control and Licensing Division
About Singapore

City state comprising a main island and some offshore islands

733.1 km2
Land Area

5.45 million
Population

* Latest data from Singapore Department of Statistics

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About Singapore

of land used
5 Port
Terminals
17% for industries ~3,500 km
of expressways
and roads

2 Passenger
Airports
~1 million
Vehicle Population

~245 km
Rail length
(mass rapid and
light rail transit)
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Environmental management strategies

Prevention

Education Enforcement

Monitoring

Prevention Enforcement Monitoring Education

• Land use planning • Licensing • Ambient air quality • Dialogue sessions

• Environmental • Inspection • Inland and coastal • Collaboration with
assessments • Self-regulation waters industry associations
• Building plan control
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Land use planning

Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)

• National Authority for land use planning
• Carries out long-term planning of land use to optimise our limited land, and to
ensure the current and future needs of the people are met
• Balances economic, social and environmental considerations to create a
sustainable Singapore that:
➢ Provides a quality living environment
➢ Offers plentiful growth opportunities and jobs for the people
➢ Safeguards our clean and green landscape
• Prepares the Long-Term Plan and Master Plan to guide land use

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Long-Term Plan and Master Plan

Long-Term Plan
• Maps out long-term plans for strategic land use over the next 40 to 50
years
• Reviewed once every 10 years

Master Plan
• Statutory land use plan that guides Singapore’s developments in the
medium term over the next 10 to 15 years
• Translates the broad long-term strategies of the Long-Term Plan into
detailed plans to guide the development of land
• Shows the permissible land use and density for developments
• Reviewed once every 5 years

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Environmental controls in land-use planning

Environmental planning controls are factored into the Long-Term Plan and Master Plan

• Land is zoned for specific uses such

as residential, commercial, industrial
etc.
• Land uses are planned to ensure
compatibility with one another
➢ Potential pollutive industries are
sited away from residential and
other sensitive premises
• Land is also safeguarded for
environmental infrastructure, for e.g.
➢ Solid waste treatment and
disposal facilities
Industrial zones (Business 2)
➢ After-death facilities Residential zones

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Judicious siting of industries

Ensure compatible industrial

Site industries in industrial trades/ activities are located in
estates industrial buildings according to
the land use zoning

Locate industries handling

hazardous chemicals outside
water catchment areas and
away from residential estates

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Classification of industries

Clean Industries
• Do not generate air pollution, wastewater, noise or odour
• Examples: Software design/development, IT development centre, etc

Light Industries
• Generate some noise and / or odour
• Examples: Electronic assembly, printing, etc

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Classification of industries

General Industries
• Generate air pollution, wastewater, noise and/or odour
• Use hazardous chemicals
• Examples: Metal finishing, vehicle repair, manufacture of furniture, etc

Special Industries
• Use and store large quantities of hazardous chemicals
• Generate air pollution, wastewater, toxic industrial wastes, noise and/or
odour
• Examples: Oil refineries, petrochemical, chemical, pharmaceutical plants,
power stations, etc

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Buffer distances between industrial and residential developments

Buffer
Distance
Clean Industries : No buffer

Industrial
Development Residential Building Light Industries : 50m buffer

Residential developments should not be General Industries : 100m buffer

sited within the buffers

Non-residential developments such as Special Industries : 500m to 1 km buffer

commercial, utilities, etc. may be sited
within the buffers

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Development control process

Development Clearance
Temporary
Industrial Occupation Permit
Development Building Plan
Siting (TOP)/ Certificate of
Control (DC) (BP) Statutory
Consultation Completion (CSC)

Consultation on proposed industrial developments/ activities

• Submission should include the details of proposed activities carried out at the premises including:
➢ Raw materials, chemicals used/stored;
➢ Fuel burning equipment;
➢ Sources and nature of air pollutants/ wastewater generation/ noise pollution and pollution control equipment;
➢ Types of toxic and solid industrial waste generated including the methods of disposal.

• Ensure that proposed industries are sited in designated industrial estates and compatible with the surrounding
land use
• Impose environmental assessments (e.g. Pollution Control Study, Quantitative Risk Assessment), if necessary

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Pollution Control Study

Imposed on pollutive industrial developments that are likely to cause substantial pollution to the environment
or increase in the level of such pollution

• Identify sources of emission of air pollutants,

discharge of trade effluent, generation of wastes and
emission of noise
• Quantify and evaluate the impacts of such pollutive
emissions
• Recommend the measures to be incorporated in the
design and operation of the plant to reduce the
pollutive emissions to acceptable levels

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Quantitative Risk Assessment

Imposed on industrial premises storing and/or using large quantities of hazardous substances and
flammable materials

• Identify and quantify the hazards and risks related

to the storage, handling and transportation of
hazardous materials
• Account for potential releases of hazardous
material, their consequences (e.g., toxic, fire,
explosion, etc.) and estimated frequency of
occurrence
• Establishes Health & Safety (H&S) buffers to guide
land use planning and identifies worst case
scenarios for emergency planning purposes
• Jointly reviewed by various Government Agencies

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Development Clearance

Industrial
Development Building Plan TOP/ CSC
Siting
Control (DC) (BP)
Consultation

• Under the Building Control Regulations, all building works, including addition and
alteration works, have to be submitted to Building and Construction Authority
(BCA) for approval by a Qualified Person (QP)
• QPs are required to submit plans to the Technical Agencies to obtain respective
clearances
• National Environment Agency (NEA) is one of the Technical Agencies

• BCA will approve building plans and issue the Temporary Occupation Permit
(TOP) or Certificate of Statutory Completion (CSC) for occupants to use the
premises, when clearances from all Technical Agencies have been obtained

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Development Clearance

Planning/ Design Detailed Plans Completion of works

Certificate of
Temporary
Development Building Plan Statutory
Occupation
Control (DC) (BP) Completion
Permit (TOP)
(CSC)

• Check that recommendations from the approved • Provide clearances for TOP/CSC once building
environmental studies/assessments are works related to pollution control and
incorporated into the building plans and environmental health are completed in
completed works. accordance with approved plans.

• Check development proposals and building

plans submitted for compliance with pollution
control and environmental health requirements

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Summary

• Singapore adopts an integrated approach to prevent and

control pollution at the planning stage i.e.

➢ Land use planning

➢ Judicious siting of industries

➢ Development and building plan control

• This integrated approach has been effective in achieving

economic development while maintaining a clean and
healthy environment

• Introduction of new planning approaches would have to

be reviewed and tested to ensure that it is robust without
affecting public health and safety

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Safeguard • Nurture • Cherish