HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The Urban Services Department tells us that in 1957 there were 246 acres of open space and now 632 while by 1970 there will be 989. In 1957 there were 9 children's playgrounds, now 89 and by 1970, 162. There were then a total of 218 different recreational and service facilities, now 781 and by 1970, 1246. Of course, these figures relate only to the urban areas. As usual, the New Territories are a case apart. Noli me tangere.
We are not only going ahead with our plans for more such play facilities at a faster rate but we are carrying out projects spread over as wide an area as there is land for the purpose. Moreover, we are hoping to build in good time physical facilities for the playing of games not now available. Hong Kong has no velodrome, for example, nor even a proper diving pool. Above all, we must not rest on our laurels. Indeed, we will not be content until there are reasonably adequate amenities for active recreation in every district. Let us, Mr. Chairman, look forward to the time when no child need play in our busy streets or swim in our polluted harbour, nor adult go far from his home to find rest in a public garden.
A practical point of immediate interest which I may make with advantage is that the revenue accruing from the hire of our sports and service facilities is even now almost enough to cover the salaries and wages of the staff engaged in operating them. In time, we hope to show a surplus. Should the Financial Secretary find fault with my statement, I would suggest that he take issue with the Urban Services Department.
There is still another important side of our work. Happily, the public is becoming more aware of it. We have over the years carried out massive plantings of trees and shrubs along roads and in parks and gardens. So far in the current year we have planted 151,000. Here, Mr. Chairman, I would like to pause to give credit where credit is due to two members of the Amenities Division of your Department, who have now been either promoted or transferred. I would like to say how much the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee appreciates the work done by Mr. ROWLANDS and Mr. LIM.
Mr. Chairman, Whitfield Barracks must necessarily loom larger in our plans in the next few years. I confess I am not in the least satisfied with the revised lay-out proposed by the Town Planning Board. It is true that it allows for the public square on the Nathan Road side which this Council proposed. But it is also sadly true that all the open space is reserved along Canton Road, and none by Nathan Road. Surely, this is the one and only chance South Kowloon will ever have for a park to serve the recreational needs of the people. It must not go by default. This could be a splendidly located green area; for sure, it could be most attractively developed as a park so as to be an asset to Hong Kong as a whole. Our recent survey shows that there are at present 243 trees in all this area. Of this number, no less than 174 are found by the Nathan Road side within the parts set aside for public sale. Sir, I would like to table this plan. Most, if not all these trees, will be felled when the time becomes propitious for our Government to resume its role of the world's top land auctioneer. These sites will then be sold for even more multistoried slums to be put up there. So I make yet another plea for the Government to turn the whole area over to this Council as open space to be developed as a public park. The public expects no less.
May I now ask you, Sir, about the New Territories? This Council has long staked a claim for land there for the national parks, nature reserves, playgrounds and picnic areas which Hong Kong so badly needs. But there is no news. Are we to have a Countryside Commission? Better, let us have a Department of Parks and Recreation for the whole of Hong Kong. Of course, the Urban Council should have supervisory and co-ordinating responsibility for all open spaces reserved for public use. After all is said and done, the Council, together with your Department, has a most successful record in this work. Have we not proved beyond doubt that, given the land and the money, we can give the public what it needs? And, the Government cannot gainsay the fact that open spaces in the New Territories are already heavily used by town dwellers, sometimes badly so as the recent fires proved.
In March 1967 the City Hall will be celebrating its fifth anniversary. The exceedingly good use which the public makes of all it has to offer must surpass even the expectations of its most enthusiastic champions. Indeed, because this is so, we are often faced with problems of time and space. We have accumulated experience which suggests that the Government ought now to plan a very much needed civic centre in Kowloon.
Also, the success of the City Hall points clearly to the need for that long-studied and much-discussed multipurpose covered stadium. So, the time has come for the Government to declare when not whether it will go ahead with this project.
Sir, 1966 has been eventful for this Council: even, a meaningful year; certainly, a progressive one. For, among other achievements, the Unofficials issued our report on the future scope of the Council. It was unanimous, surprisingly so to outsiders but not to us because we are one in our wish to serve the public better. To write a report such as the Ad Hoc Committee's is not enough. Without translating its views into practical terms, the report would be but an empty exercise. In reality there is in it nothing that is not capable of being put into effect if phased intelligently. So, the Council has set up four sub-committees on finance, scope, wards and organization. Their composition was
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