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Finally and perhaps most important of all, a target figure of maximum population should be decided upon. For all these it will be necessary to produce the statistical and other data(in some cases to be supplemented) upon which the views expressed in this Report are based.
It has been suggested that for specific features of the Plan, an international Competition might be held (as is being held for one of the features of Stockholm to-day), This is certainly possible for a localised problem for which all the necessary data can be supplied.
It is recommended, therefore, that the Development Plan for Hong Kong when it is completed will(unlike the Greater London Plan) be a document which has received the general approval of the Government, which can proceed to use it as a baɛis upon which to prepare its own works of realisation and also upon which permits would be granted to private enterprise to proceed. At the same time it must be repeated, as is stated in Part I, that the method of a sealed and signed legal document for a Statutory Scheme is not recommended (it has been dropped under the English Town and Country Planning Act 1947); the Plan will be an approved statement of policy and as such subject to revision or expansion from time to time. It will act as a guide to Government and private developer and decisions taken upon it will be enforceable statutorily.
The question naturally arises as to under whom this Planning Office will be working, whose approval (apart from the final one of the Government)it must seek. It will, of course, be a section of the P.W.D. and as such under the control of the D.P.W.: but as Town Planning touches so many aspects of community existence, it is tentatively suggested that a special committee under the Chairmanship of the Colonial Secretary should be set up, containing representatives of all the Departments concerned. At the same time it is strongly advised that the object of the Committee will not be to give approval at frequent intervals to sections of the scheme, but to keep in direct touch with the Planning Officer for purpose of decisions, when required, and for general guidance, leaving the Plan to be submitted as a whole for final acceptance. The experience, in this Country, of a municipal council (or committee thereof) of laymen calling for the plan in stages or according to sectional -subdivision and passing resolutions based upon grounds of temporary expediency (of whatever sort) has not been happy. If a Municipal Council is set up for Hong Kong it should not be charged with the preparation of the Flan, though of course it would be free to express its opinion before final approval was given.
It is also worth considering whether a purely Advisory Committee might not be of great value. The eagerness to help, the value of considered suggestion and of deep experience( possibly in a limited field) was very marked : a judicious and tactful Planning Officer could gain much from consultation either as a Committee or of Individual members : at the same time the Committee itself would be a valuable agent in supporting and explaining the Plan when prepared.
With regard to Planning powers; these will require very careful consideration. Mr. Owen's excellent draft was based upon the 1932 Act. It is recommended that it be re-read and re-drafted in the light of the 1947 Act. The different attitude towards the rigid Statutory Scheme of the former practice has been alluded to. The most