LAND HOLDINGS
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HONG KONG DEFENCE COSTS NEGOTIATIONS OCTOBER 1975
LANDS MATTERS
BRIEF K
We hold over 2,500 acres of land for the use of the 3 Services as follows:
Navy
67 acres
Army
2,377 acres (includes 514 acres of training areas and ranges)
RAF
139 acres 2,583 acres
In addition the Army leases a further 53 acres of which 32 acres are training areas.
LAND TENURE
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2. Most of our land holdings are made available by the Hong Kong Government by
Memoranda of Appropriation under which land is provided free; we hand back without charge any land ceasing to be required for defence purposes. Land required short-
term is made available by temporary occupation licences. In the event of the
Hong Kong Government requiring land for a public purpose, it makes an alternative
site available and reprovides Service buildings/installations at its own expense.
3. From time to time public interest has focussed on the release of land
occupied by the Services. In this connection CBF, in a speech made to the
Rotary Club in Hong-Kong on 27 May, which was published-in the following day's edition of the South China Morning Post, referred to the handover of 6 camps to
the Hong Kong Government and to the fact that the release of the land for the
benefit of the community would be welcomed, The camps concerned were part of
Lyemun, Shouson Hill, Chatham Road, Sai Kung, Shamshuipo and Argyle Street.
may have been this speech which prompted Mr Stanley Newens MP to ask, on
25 June 1975, about the terms on which the 6 sites were to be handed back. He
was told that they were all on land made available and would be handed back to the Hong Kong Government when no longer required and that the matter of handover of the sites was currently under discussion, with the exception of Shouson Hill
which was transferred on 30 June 1975. The handover of Lyemun is complicated
by the fact that the area was occupied and tunnelled by the Japanese and, in the
absence of records covering the occupation period and pre-war, there is the
problem of ensuring that the land is clear of explosive devices.
It
4. Works services will be required at Gun Club and Osborn Barracks to allow
the releases at Shamshuipo, Argyle Street and Chatham Road. The ability to
include these works within the running time of the next defence agreement will
depend on the finance available from the defence contribution.
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