Brief No 12
AFTERNOON. WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER
THE URBAN COUNCIL
8.
The role of the Urban Council
Urbco is a corporate body set up under a Government Ordinance and it is the only governmental
body which consists solely of members of the public. Half of its 24 members are appointed by the Governor
and the other 12 are elected on 4-year terms under a limited franchise (most of those allowed to vote are so-called "professional people": only 35,000 are registered for voting in Urbco elections and at the last election only 7,000 actually voted). The Council meets once a month, but most of its work is done by its
13 select committees. Urbco's duties include: public
sanitation control; the management of street markets and hawkers; the control of cemeteries and funeral parlours; the provision of libraries and areas for public recreation; and monitoring and dealing with public complaints.
b.
Democracy in Hong Kong
On 24 June Mrs Elsie Elliot and two other elected
members of Urbco wrote to Lord Goronwy-koberts (copy to the Prime Minister) criticising the lack of popular
participation in the government of Hong Kong. ln particular, the letter claimed that Umelco was ineffective in its ombudsman role; that there is a
failure of communication between the Government and the population (despite the City District Officer scheme); and that the Government deliberately limits the power of Urbco (eg by withdrawing housing from the Council's field of responsibility). Finally, Mrs Elliot and her co-authors attacked the idea that China would
not accept constitutional change in the Colony and urged a number of changes, specifically that:
/i)