16-NOV-1990 19:25
HK GOVERNMENT HOUSE
+852 521 1868
P.12
refusing building plans in the specified areas before
enactment of the Ordinance. It has been suggested that this
provision in some way derogates from the decision making
I can
power of this Council, but as the Council must pass this
Bill if the IDPAS are to be capable of enforcement, I cannot for the life of me see the force of this suggestion. also confirm that these powers involve no infringement of
the Bill of Rights.
13.
Lastly, Sir, the question of appeals. The Town Planning Ordinance has been criticised because it provides for the Board to hear objections to its own plans and to conduct its own reviews of its refusals of planning
applications.
These criticisms have also been applied to
the Board's functions as extended under the amending Ordinance, and also to the Director of Planning's powers to refuse approvals under the Interim Development Permission Area system and his more permanent powers to attach conditions to notices of reinstatement. It seems to me that
the question of the Board's function must, like the
compensation issue, be dealt with in the overall review. An
appeal against the Director's powers to attach conditions to notices under this bill could, however, be considered, but his powers to approve or refuse permission under the IDPA system will disappear within six months of enactment of the