Question No. 11
Written Reply by Hon. G. Barnes, JP, Secretary. for Lands & Works to question by Hon. POON Chi-fai
at Legislative Council on 14 January 1987
Question:
Sir,
It seems that the existing Town Planning Ordinance is inadequate in meeting the present development needs in Hong Kong. Recently, Government proposed that the Town Planning Ordinance should be amended in order to extend the control exercised under the Ordinance to non-urban areas. Will Government inform this Council:
(a)
(b)
what progress it has made in amending the Ordinance; and
whether the Government apart from extending control to non-urban areas, has fully reviewed the Ordinance and considered introducing more comprehensive amendments to it?
On the whole the Town Planning Ordinance has
proved adequate together with other statutory and
administrative controls to meet the need for planning
controls in Hong Kong. Government is still considering
whether it needs to extend statutory planning control to
rural areas, which certainly have been affected by
haphazard development in the past, and I hope that a
decision can be made shortly after further discussions
with interested parties. It is also considering a number
of minor amendments to the Ordinance based on suggestions
made by the Hong Kong Institution of Planners and others.
The Ordinance is under constant review by a
working group of the Land and Building Advisory Committee
but against the background of an intensely dynamic
development scene, and considerable manoeuvre in our
leasehold and administrative arrangements for controls, I
doubt whether more comprehensive statutory controls would
be beneficial at present.