Once a sleepy residential area, the vicinity of Wellington Street, Lyndhurst Terrace, Staunton Street and Wyndham Street, now popularly known as the "Soho" in Central, is teeming with pubs, restaurants, and other public entertainment premises. Yet, economic activities have brought to the area not only benefits, but also problems of nuisance, notably noise at night.

As handling of a noise nuisance complaint normally involves more than one government department, and because noise nuisance is created in the neighbourhood, it requires more than law enforcement actions to have the problem resolved effectively. As such, Central District is conducting a police community programme in a bid to improve the situation.

Under the programme, seminars are conducted for Area Committees and local residents, in the hope that they could better understand the Noise Control Ordinance and the law enforcement procedures of the departments concerned.

"We hope that through the seminars we can strengthen relationship and cooperation with the community for the common objective of reducing the severity of the problem," said Central District Police Community Relations Officer, Chief Inspector Tse Sau-kong.

The second component of the police community programme is visits to the pubs or restaurants which are targets of complaints, and to their surrounding areas to make licencees, customers and motorists more aware of the problem of noise nuisance, and of their civic responsibility to improve the situation.

Lastly, the views collected through the seminars and visits will be passed on to frontline officers so that they can meet public expectations in handling noise nuisance complaints.

In conclusion, CIP Tse said: "Although our campaign may not be able to eliminate noise nuisance completely, we believe it will help to enlist the co-operation and support of the residents affected by noise nuisance, and of the parties making the nuisance. The other benefits are reducing complaints, fostering mutual understanding, strengthening police and community relationship, and enhancing the efficiency of frontline officers in handling complaints."

Distributing publicity leaflet to motorists

Publicity poster against noise nuisance being displayed in the 'Soho' area in Central