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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Ladies and gentlemen, before I proceed with the items on our agenda today, I would like on your behalf and also in my own name, to congratulate Mrs. ELLIOTT on the 1976 Ramon Magsaysay Award. We all know that it is very well deserved in every way. Congratulations, Mrs. ELLIOTT. (Applause)
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 6th July, 1976 were confirmed.
STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Hong Kong is small in area with very many people. Hence, all the greater is the need to put our land to best use. In the past careful husbanding of our land resources might not have been so pressing an issue. In any case, as can be seen, the results of land use are not generally impressive. Perhaps, with heavy and sudden increase of population a generation ago, excessively high-density living conditions overtook what planning there might have been. At any rate, there was toleration of misuse of public land; moreover, bad practices, which should not have been condoned, crept into private leases. Old environmental problems were aggravated and worse ones created as a result. Indeed, more often than not, Hong Kong's past was an exercise in make-do-and-mend, certainly not an example of proper total planning.
The public may have accepted such a listless and indifferent approach in years gone by. Then, selling public land to private enterprise, sometimes for a mass of jerrybuilt structures, seemed to have been the prime result, even if not the object of the exercise. There were the slums the authorities built to resettle refugees in order to clear land wanted for re-development as was the declared aim, not because it was humane social policy to house a substantial number of people being assimilated into our society. Then Hong Kong was hard pressed to survive in a fiercely competitive situation and had to integrate great numbers into our economy. The situation is different now. There is the means to create far better environmental conditions. And, there is also public expectation that this would be done. But, is there the will to do so in earnest? Anyway, what passed muster as town-planning not so long ago should raise a hue and cry in our day.
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Consequently, all plans put out for the re-development of existing urban areas or when laying out a new town should attract critical attention. Otherwise, our community leaders and civic organizations would be letting the people down. So would the relevant professional bodies unless acting without fear or favour in putting forward their considered views. A community concerned with its well-being must be clear and vocal in defining what it wants. More so in Hong Kong, surely.
As it is, Hong Kong lives with grave environmental problems. Some are hard to avoid. Others should not have arisen at all. Be that as it may, many need not be made worse; on the contrary, some can be controlled or even progressively eliminated, if there is the will to do so with energy. For this purpose, it is important that more land be found not only for public open spaces but also for a host of community needs and services. The Council has a long and varied list: among others, markets and bazaars; public latrines and bath-houses; refuse collection points and garbage disposal centres; parks and playgrounds; cultural centres and sports installations. If the authorities persist in blowing hot and cold on such and other public requirements, Hong Kong will continue to be below par in community development. And, paradoxically, all this in the midst of plenty.
Of grave concern at the moment is the intention our town-planners appear to have. Surely, they cannot want to throw away the golden opportunity to do Hong Kong proud in Tsim Sha Tsui.
First, there is the setback the Council consistently suffers in developing Kowloon Park for proper community use. To have got it in the first place involved long and hard negotiation many years ago. Almost step by step, the public was given more land-grudgingly, as it were. At once, plans were drawn up for the phased conversion of Whitfield Barracks into Kowloon Park. However, obstacles have been put in our way from the start: initially, to cut a road through the park; now, for the construction of the mass transit railway; and more, because of a fickle change of heart by our town-planners. This importunate revival of an unrequited proposal, unless spurned again, will definitely put the clock back once more, this time perhaps for five to six years before completion. In fact, the Council had already to call a halt a month or so ago to the start of the next phase. Lest it be forgotten too, the part which they now suggest should be used for a row of shops has already been allocated to the Council as open space. Sadly, the thought has crossed our mind that the planners may be sorry that all this prime public land has been given over to us for
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