Authorities further raised Kai Tak residential density, criticized for enhancing walled effect and misusing land

Increased housing units turns to high-end flats – Property speculation as root of problem

Green Sense suggests to increase HOS flat supply – Private housing should be reserved for ‘Hong Kong first-timers’

The Hong Kong government has recently proposed amendments of the draft Kai Tak Outline Zoning Plan No. S/K22/5 (‘the OZP’) to the Town Planning Board, an act which would further raise residential density of the area, and would change the land use of two open space areas into residential use. The amendments involve a total of 16 sites, 5 of them close to the Kai Tak Airport apron area and the remaining 11 situated in the middle of the runway. Multiple mid-runway sites would have their Plot Ratios increased from 3.4 – 5.9 to 5.5 -7, while their height restrictions would be extended from 45-80 m to 95-120 m.

Green Sense expressed concern that the increase in residential density would lead to a “resurrection” of walled effect buildings, blocking ventilation in the Kowloon Bay Area, and re-enacting the faulty town planning of old.

Earlier in 2013, with the same reason to “increase housing supply”, the government has already increased the plot ratio of 4 sites (1 for HOS housing and 3 for private housing) in the apron area (the future Kai Tak City Centre) from 4.5-5 to 5.5-6. The three private housing lots were put up for sale, and their off-plan apartment prices ended up reaching HKD17000-24000 per square foot, far too high to be affordable by the middle class. The total of 12 land lots in the apron area were meant to provide 9000 housing units, but after 4 of them were sold to the Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co. Ltd. at a sky-high HKD13000 per square foot, it was expected that apartments there would be sold as luxury homes at astronomical prices. On the other hand, One Kai Tak, occupying two land lots under the ‘Hong Kong Property for Hong Kong People’ policy, has also been recently put up for tendering with prices starting at HKD16000-25000 per square foot. Under such a laissez-faire private housing policy, the lots, despite a total area of 12 hectares, have failed to provide even one single affordable flat, and are thus a waste of land and housing units.

Now the government has failed to learn from previous mistakes and applied for further amendments of the OZP, boosting density of the remaining 16 sites. Authorises ignore the root of the problem is, in fact, property speculation. Increasing planned units would benefit no one but developers and speculators.

‘The government has increased the supply of residential units by raising development density and encouraging “blind land usurping”, but real estate prices remained high, showing that these are not effective measures,’ commented Roy Tam Hoi-pong, Chief Executive (Voluntary) of Green Sense. ‘We believe that instead of providing units which would end up being speculated as luxury homes, continuously sacrificing the environment in the process, the government should tighten its housing policies.

Green Sense suggested applying certain conditions to the increase of residential density, including transforming the 16 lots for private housing to HOS use, or setting limitations in land leases stating developers should only provide ‘Hong Kong first-timer’ units – flats sold exclusively to locals as starter homes – those units are not to be transferred within a short period of time. Should a transfer be made, only those who are also local first-time home buyers would be eligible. Thus the chance of property and land speculation would be greatly reduced. If the government fails to implement the above measures, there is no reason to allow the denser development.

Caption: Another Proposed Change of Land Use to Residential (Group B) at Kai Tak, plus changes in Floor Area Ratio and Height Limits – Restrictions to private projects and increase in HOS supply the only way to help locals

Green Sense emphasized the suggestions are rational and voice of the society. Compared with freely allowing speculation, the suggested measures could better respond to housing problems while preventing the reviving of walled buildings and subsequent deterioration of air quality and landscapes in the Kowloon Bay and Ngau Tau Kok areas. We strongly urge the public to speak up during the second consultation period of the OZP, expected in mid-May.

Objection to Developing Country Parks and the Adjustment Mechanism

Make Use of Brownfield Sites, Military Camps and Spare Land

The Chief Executive Mr. CY Leung told the media that he has instructed relevant departments to conduct a study on developing country parks. Green Groups are furious and strongly opposed to this, as the public has already voiced opposition to the development of country parks.  However, the government still insists on doing so and, furthermore, devotes more resources to this, deliberately leading to conflict within our community.

In fact, there is still a lot of land available for development in Hong Kong. The housing shortage problem has originated from “Uneven Distribution”. Over the years, the government has avoided reviewing the “Small House Policy” (land designated for New Territories Exempted Houses), unused Military Camps and Brownfield sites. These are the main reasons for the present situation.   Moreover, the government has failed to address the problem of vacant housing units and private flats used for investment and speculation purposes, falsely presenting the situation as a “lack of land”. As there are other land resource options, it is totally unacceptable for the government to use the welfare of the elderly as an excuse for developing country parks.

Country Parks are important features and treasures in Hong Kong. Apart from the environmental value of preserving our precious ecology, they are also well-known for eco-tourism, community enjoyment (for public recreation) and even have a role to play in urban planning (for preventing over-expansion of the urban areas). Country parks are also important water catchment areas, which allow rainwater to flow into surrounding reservoirs. Furthermore, trees in country parks can absorb carbon dioxide and offset some of the greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, which relieves global warming.

Mr. CY Leung pointed out that low ecological parts of country parks can be developed. We totally disagree with his claims. All the plants, flowers and birds in the country parks have their own meaning and value to the natural environment. Ecological value cannot be measured in objective criteria. He further suggested the “Adjustment Mechanism” in Country Parks, which we consider to be “weasel words” designed to mislead the public about conservation. The geographical location, the terrain, environment and the ecology of each existing country park are unique and should not be replaced by any excuses. The exchange of another “new” country park area is totally a mistake.

Mr. CY Leung hasn’t made good use of brownfield sites, military campsites or spare land before advocating the development of country park borders. Hong Kong’s housing problem could also be solved not just by finding land but also by controlling housing demand through a population policy. Once the natural environment is destroyed, it cannot be restored to what it was before. Therefore, the government should not develop our country parks, which are the pride of Hong Kong people.

Co-sign Parties (Alphabetical Order)

Ark Eden

Association for Geoconservation, Hong Kong

Clean The Air

Designing Hong Kong

Environmental Life Science Society, SS, HKUSU

Friends of the Earth (HK)

Friends of Hoi Ha

Friends of Tai Long Wan

Greeners Action

Green Community

Green Lantau Association

Green Peace East Asia

Green Power

Green Sense

HKWildlife.net

Hong Kong Bird Watching Society

Living Islands Movement

Range Education Centre

The Conservancy Association

The Green Earth

Society of Hong Kong Nature Explorers Kong Nature Explorers

If cycling is a part of low-carbon living style,
cycling track should not be the enemy of trees.

More than 3,000 trees will be felled in order to complete the remaining Tuen Mun-Sheung Shui cycling track (Yuen Long-Sheung Shui Section),. The felling includes trees with crown over 20 meters and age more than decades. The environmental cost is unreasonably huge.

After analyzing the route and the construction sites of the cycling track, we have found out that there are two major problems in the Tuen Mun-Sheung Shui cycling track project. Firstly, a large section of the cycling track is located along the Castle Peak Road and the New Territories Circular Road with a narrow width. This greatly increases the difficulty of the construction and thus the number of trees to be felled. Secondly, as the cycling track will be built next to the highways, cyclists will be immensely affected by the air and noise pollution from the heavy traffic. The quality of the cycling track will be worryingly low. Based on the observations we made on-site and the reports provided by the government, we have concluded that it is unsuitable to build this section.

However, the Legislative Council has already approved financial funding to the project. We therefore have immediately contacted the responsible governmental department to raise our request for tree protection. We arranged a meeting with the representative from the Civil Engineering and Development Department in September. After reviewing tree reports, we arranged an on-site investigation with the officials in October in hope of proposing modifications to the project. We have given a series of suggestions to avoid tree felling, including a change in route, partial reduction in the width of the cycling track (the current guideline is a minimum of 3.5 metres), and an adoption of gallery road.

The response from the government is positive and they are currently considering our suggestions. We will continue the follow-up on this project to reduce tree felling as much as possible.

]]> http://greensense.org.hk/en/2016/11/%e7%92%b0%e4%bf%9d%e8%a7%b8%e8%a6%ba%e7%b9%bc%e7%ba%8c%e8%b7%9f%e9%80%b2%e5%b1%af%e9%96%80%e8%87%b3%e4%b8%8a%e6%b0%b4%e6%ae%b5%e5%96%ae%e8%bb%8a%e5%be%91%e3%80%80%e5%96%ae%e8%bb%8a%e5%be%91%e8%88%87/feed/ 0 http://greensense.org.hk/en/2016/09/%e7%92%b0%e4%bf%9d%e8%a7%b8%e8%a6%ba%e7%b5%b1%e8%a8%882015%e5%b9%b4%e5%9c%9f%e5%9c%b0%e6%94%b9%e5%8a%83-%e8%bf%9160%e5%85%ac%e9%a0%83%e5%b8%82%e5%8d%80%e7%a9%ba%e9%96%93%e8%ae%8a%e7%9f%b3%e5%b1%8e/ http://greensense.org.hk/en/2016/09/%e7%92%b0%e4%bf%9d%e8%a7%b8%e8%a6%ba%e7%b5%b1%e8%a8%882015%e5%b9%b4%e5%9c%9f%e5%9c%b0%e6%94%b9%e5%8a%83-%e8%bf%9160%e5%85%ac%e9%a0%83%e5%b8%82%e5%8d%80%e7%a9%ba%e9%96%93%e8%ae%8a%e7%9f%b3%e5%b1%8e/#comments Mon, 19 Sep 2016 03:33:02 +0000 editor http://greensense.org.hk/?p=2408

“Blind land development” sacrifices the quality of life in the existing community
North Point ventilation corridor WAS preserved
but high-rise buildings will be built soon!

The shortage of Public Open Space in Hong Kong is a planning concern for a long time. However,  open space areas are continuously rezoned for housing purpose by the government in recent years. Instead of maintaining the quality of life in response to the citizens’ demand, the construction of dense residential buildings worsens the problem of urban heat island effect.

From the government’s land-rezoning applications approved by the Town Planning Board in 2015, Green Sense found out that in a total of 58.53 hectares of land were converted to residential land use in 24 projects, including “Green Belt” (32.96 ha), “Open Space” (4.25ha), “Government, Institution or Community facilities sites (GIC)” (21.3 ha). Due to the long developed urban growth in Hong Kong, most of the “Open Space” and “GIC” are located at the essential ventilation corridor of the inner city area. If high-rise buildings are constructed at the corridors, the urban density will increase and the micro-climate will be cramped further.

From the current draft of North Point Outline Zoning Plan (S/H8/25) consulted by the Town Planning Board, the Tin Chiu Playground in North Point is to be rezoned to “Residential (A)” use, in order to provide 240 units, in at most 110 metres high public housing. Nevertheless, the rezoning site, the playground, is the main entrance of the North-easterly wind to the North Point inner city area. Once the high- rise buildings are built, the sea breeze will be blocked and weakened the ventilation of the urban area of North Point. The most ironic is that, in order to keep the ventilation corridor during the former North Point Estate development, the mentioned site was preserved from development by the government of the last term. This obviously shows that the blind land development has made the urban planning a chaos.

In order to beautify the land supply ability of the government, our society has already sacrificed too much public space and natural environment. Disputes over land continue, the defence for land raises in all districts in Hong Kong. Green Sense suggests, there is an urgent need of population control, the pressure for land supply can be relieved. The community has to treat population policy as a tool of alleviating housing problem, managing the number of immigration (including the One-way Permits for mainland people and other immigration applications), in order to slow down the population growth, and more importantly, to prevent such blind land development from bothering Hong Kong continuously.

Tai Po Green Belt illegal use for open storage and construction waste storage

Located next to The Education University of Hong Kong, area up to 9 of football field

The Satellite imagery shows the illegal storage covers areas are expanded, including lands owned by Wheelock Properties

Planning Department has been ineffective in its law enforcement regarding to years of complaints by the University and the residents nearby

Since the illegal land filling nearby at Tai Shui Wai, Kingswood Villas has been reported, the public were concerns about the fly-tipping and unauthorized developments. Green Sense have investigated an area in 9 hectares in Tai Po Located next to The Education University of Hong Kong. We found the illegal use of the land but the Planning Department has been ineffective in its law enforcement,   from the Land search and look over the Satellite imagery for past 10 years.

According to the Tai Po outline Zoning Plan, the land should be zoned as Green Belt. The vegetation cover was stripped and trees were removed since 2000. The green area have strunk and turned to open storage for construction waste, large machines, temporary containers etc. Now the violation of land use is up to 9 football fields (see below).

The Education University of Hong Kong and the residents nearby have complained many times. It is impossible that the Planning Department and Lands Department shut their eyes to this situation. However, the government has not enforced the law which allowed landowners to cut down the woodland and leave the land contaminated.

According to the Land registry, the Land is owned by many owners. Among them, Wheelock Properties owns most of the lots. We are concerned that the land was destroyed deliberately in order to turn it to “Brown Field” systematically. It is obvious a case of “destroy first, develop later”. The Government should not condone this.

Meanwhile, a piece of land at Tai Po Lo Fai Road with thousands of trees will be planned by the government to build luxurious residential units and it is already for the land sale. The proposed alteration of land use is still under judicial review.

The Chief Executive (voluntary) of Green Sense, Roy Tam said “ The Government’s land management in the New Territories is totally reckless, they allow landowners and properties developers to destroy the natural environment wantonly. On the other hand, the government alters the land use from Green Belt to build the luxurious residential house.”

We solemnly urge the Lands Department to clarify whether the 9 hectares of land is government land. We also requested to the Lands Department and the Planning Department to enforce the Town Planning Ordinance and the land lease conditions in order to request those landowners to restore the Green Belt as soon as possible.

Postscript: The follow up

After holding a press conference by Green Sense, the Planning Department replied the land is not covered by Development Permission Area Plans. Therefore, they cannot carry out prosecution.

Green Sense believes this is only an excuse. There was so much evidence proving the violation of land use stated in the outline zoning plan. If no department can carry out any enforcement in this situation, the legislation should be amended as soon as possible. The Planning Department should state clearly what action should be taken after the violation of the outline zoning plan. We cannot accept the department to turn a blind eye.

Note:

Development Permission Area Plans (DPA) – areas not covered by Outline Zoning Plan or the country park enclaves; the Planning Department can have control to unauthorized development in these areas. DPA will be replaced by Outline Zoning Plan later.

Outline Zoning Plan (OZP) – the violation of land use mentioned above is covered by Tai Po Outline Zoning Plan and listed as Green Belt.