16-NOV-1990 19:22
HK GOVERNMENT HOUSE
+852 521 1868
P.06
Sir,
Speech by the Hon. Graham Barnes, CBE, JP, Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands at the Legislative Council on 31 October 1990
A number of members have commented on the
Government's intention to apply town planning measures to
the rural parts of the New Territories. A Bill to amend the
Town Planning Ordinance will be introduced into this Council
on 7 November 1990. I would like to take this opportunity
to clarify a few points of principle relating to the
extension of statutory planning to the rural areas.
2.
The Town Planning Ordinance was passed more
than 50 years ago to provide a statutory machinery for
preparing, publishing and approving zoning plans for urban
and potential urban areas. It has undergone minor amendment
to build in a rudimentary permission system to provide for
some variation of the plans, but it still remains
essentially a framework for planning urban areas.
3.
So all control of what goes where in rural and
village areas is done through lease conditions and
administrative means. In the case of agricultural land held
under the Block Crown leases
that is the majority of flat
and usable land in the rural areas, - building can be
controlled under the terms of the lease, but changes of
user, apart from users which are offensive, noxious, etc.,
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