Letter and Email Templates

The URA is seeking feedback on the developer’s hybrid proposal. Please feel free to use the following text as the basis of your letter or email, or download the template. Please amend, delete or add to the text as needed and sent it off before the deadline of 7th July 2007.

Letters should be sent to “Permanent Secretary, Ministry of National Development, Maxwell Road, Singapore 069110”.

You can also email your feedback to the Permanent Secretary at tan_tee_how@mnd.gov.sg

Thank you!



The Permanent Secretary
Ministry of National Development
Maxwell Road
Singapore 069110

Dear Sir,

Re: Proposed Amendment 37/07 to Master Plan - 23 Amber Road

I write in response to Notice 1717 made under Rule 4 of the Planning (Master Plan) Rules (R1). I should be grateful if you could please treat this letter as a representation under Rule 5 of the Rules.

Proposed Amendment 37/07 to the Master Plan to seeks to designate Lot 99777, Mukim 25, at Amber Road, as a Conservation Area. Presently, of the built structure at this location, only the porch entrance and stairhall are proposed to be conserved. I understand that the remainder of the structure will be demolished.

While I broadly support the proposal to designate the area as a Conservation Area, I believe that it is essential for the whole of the building at 23 Amber Road - and not just the porch entrance and structure - to be conserved.

I believe that historic buildings should be conserved in their entirety (the URA Conservation Guidelines make very clear that this should be so). The porch and stairhall are integral to the structure of the house, and do not “make sense” without the rest of the house. In fact, it is the crescent arms of the Butterfly House that make it special and worth preserving; they were designed by the architect to let in the sea breeze, to let in the light and to get the best view of the sea. The crescent wings are therefore in a real sense the raison d'etre of the house. Without them, the entire context of the house in its seaside location is lost.

The proposal to designate the area as a Conservation Area recognises that the Butterfly Building is architecturally important and unique. The hybrid proposal however seeks to preserve only a small portion of the building while destroying the crescent arms. It is therefore of questionable value as a conservation proposal.

Rule 6(2) allows the Minister to approve a proposal with such modifications as he may consider necessary. I therefore ask the Minister to approve an amended version of proposal (4) which designates the entirety of the built structure at 23 Amber Road as being conserved.

Should the Minister be minded to allow proposal (4) unamended, or to refuse proposal (4) altogether, and only in that event, then I request the Minster to appoint a public inquiry under Rule 6(1). If the Minister should decide not to appoint a public inquiry, then I request an opportunity of a hearing under Rule 6(1).

Yours faithfully,




[Name and address]


Letters should be sent to “Permanent Secretary, Ministry of National Development, Maxwell Road, Singapore 069110”.

You can also email your feedback to the Permanent Secretary at tan_tee_how@mnd.gov.sg