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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
QUESTIONS
(1) MR. PETER P. F. CHAN asked the following question (in English):-
The typhoon season is coming and there would be possibilities that illuminated advertisement signs approved by the Urban Council will be destroyed causing damages and accidents. May I know whether there is legal liability attached to the Council in that respect and if so, how the Council makes provision in covering the risk? May I know whether the Urban Council has charged any fees in respect of those advertisement signs? If not, can the Council consider charging such fees in the future?
MR. PETER P. K. NG, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENTERTAINMENTS AND Advertising SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):
Mr. Chairman, the Building Authority is responsible for advising on the safety of advertisement signs, but the Council is responsible for the removal of any dangerous sign.
(Miss Cecilia L. Y. YEUNG arrived at this point.)
However, to ensure that action is taken promptly on any dangerous sign, the Entertainments and Advertising Select Committee has delegated the Council's powers to remove such signs on the Council's behalf to the Building Authority. In the circumstances, the costs for removal of such signs are recoverable from the owners and the Council would not normally be liable for injury or damage caused by a dangerous sign and no provision is made for such risk.
The answer to the second part of the question is that no fees of any nature have ever been charged for advertisement signs, although a good deal of expensive administrative work is involved, and in one case the Council suffered a loss of over $3,000 as a result of removal action taken.
The answer to the third part of the question is that the Urban Council has certainly considered charging fees for advertisement signs and is on record as saying that realistic charges for licence fees would be only fair and in the public interest. Despite the efforts of the Council to establish by-laws to this effect, considerable difficulty has been encountered with the Government in getting new by-laws enacted to cover all the Urban Council's wishes in regard to the present unsatisfactory position on uncontrolled, unlicensed and free advertisement signs which has arisen because of the existing inadequate legislation. This matter has been outstanding since September last year, but I hope that the Government's attitude will change and that progress will be made shortly.
MR. CHAN (in English):—Mr. Chairman, is there anything we, the Council, can do to make the Government change its attitude?
MR. NG (in English):----Well, Mr. Chairman, there is nothing much the Council can do to make the Government change its attitude except by pressing.
MR. CHAN (in English):-May I know how to press? (Laughter)
CHAIRMAN (in English):—That question is privileged. (Laughter)
MR. LO TAK-SHING (in English):--I wonder whether it will be too difficult, Mr. Chairman, for Mr. NG to outline some of the difficulties that he has encountered with the Government in this regard.
MR. NG (in English):---Well, Mr. Chairman, I shall be glad to give Mr. Lo a copy of our minutes as all the difficulties are outlined there.
MR. LO (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I think my supplementary is within the terms of the Standing Orders and it is referred to in the reply: Mr. NG says "considerable difficulty has been encountered." Perhaps we could have some idea of what this considerable difficulty is? Let's bring it out in the open, let's not pass minutes to each other.
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Mr. NG, are you able to recall these difficulties?
MR. NG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, it is quite impossible to recall all the difficulties. But one point is that the Government said they are considering opinions and engineers' opinions from other departments and this has been delayed for exactly one year.
MR. H. M. G. FORSGATE (in English):-Could Mr. NG indicate how long these advertising by-laws have been under consideration?
MR. NG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, as far as I know, this advertising by-law was considered long before I joined the Council 17
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