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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
of automatic machines and their general suitability and the Council will permit only those that provide healthy entertainment in places of amusement.
2. MR. FRANCIS CHAINE asked the following question (in English):—In view of the reduction of area of the Southorn Playground in Wan Chai as a result of construction of M.T.R. station etc., will the Council be prepared to make the Wan Chai Sports Ground more available to schools, sporting groups and the public for competitions, exhibitions and martial arts to remedy the situation?
THE HONOURABLE. F. K. HU, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):—This question concerns the reduction of area of Southorn Playground in Wan Chai as a result of the construction of an M.T.R. station and whether the Council would be prepared to make Wan Chai Sports Ground more available to school sporting groups and the public for competition, exhibitions and martial arts to make up for the deficiency.
I must first point out that the M.T.R. construction in Wan Chai will not reduce the actual playing area in Southorn Playground. The only recreational space that the Urban Council will lose is a small area of open ground behind the northern goal post of the mini-soccer pitch. This involves demolishing the refreshment kiosk. Work on this has already begun. The refreshment kiosk will be resited in due course.
Mr. CHAINE may be referring to the covered stadium at Southorn Playground. This is not operated by the Urban Council. As part of a comprehensive development over the new M.T.R. station, the stadium is due to be demolished, together with all the other buildings beside it. To the best of our knowledge, all the facilities in these buildings (including the stadium) will be reprovisioned inside the new development.
Plans are now at an advanced stage for replacing the existing Lockhart Road Market with a new Urban Council complex at an estimated cost of $49 million. Construction work will commence in November this year. The new building will incorporate cultural and recreational facilities as well as a market and offices, and is expected to be ready for public use in 1983. In the meantime, temporary market facilities for the public will be provided along the eastern side of Southorn Playground. This will mean temporarily occupying two of the existing four basketball courts until early 1983.
To avoid loss of playing facilities, the layout of the two remaining basketball courts and the surrounding play area within the playground will be re-arranged so as to allow for marking out 3 basketball courts. In addition, a practice stand providing 3 baskets with backboards will be installed so that during the temporary alienation of the two basketball courts there will in fact be one more basket than there is at present. More is provided from less.
I now come to the possibility of allowing Wan Chai Sports Ground to be more extensively used than at present. Although this sports ground is the only athletic stadium of international standard in Hong Kong, its use has not been restricted to events at this level. Far from it. It has in fact been extensively used by schools and various sports organizations under properly controlled management. The present rate of usage can be considered very high for such a sports venue. It simply is not practical to maintain a high standard sports venue and at the same time allow it to be used without restriction. In fact, the use of the ground is open to any athlete in Hong Kong provided he or she is a member of the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association, which includes all its affiliated clubs provided that the Associations or Clubs book the venue in advance. In addition, the Recreation & Sport Service conducts special training programmes for members of the public.
The summer is of course not the athletic season, and so this stadium is not at the moment used to its maximum. In any event, designed as an athletics venue, the Wan Chai stadium is not suitable for playing mini-soccer, basketball, exhibitions and the martial arts.
There have been frequent suggestions that the Wan Chai stadium which the Urban Council built as a first class athletics ground should be used for all sorts of other purposes by anyone and everyone. It would make no sense to agree to this. On the other hand, the Council has been very conscious of the need to maximize use of the stadium, and within the limits of preserving a first class stadium continues to keep an open mind here.
MR. CHAINE (in English):—Mr. Chairman, may I ask a supplementary question. Could this Wan Chai Sports Ground be made available to schools and athletic associations which are not members of the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association so that they can hold their sports events there?
MR. HU (in English):—Mr. Chairman, this ground has been used extensively by schools. In the first year, it was used by Division I schools and in the second year, since we relaxed the usage, it was used by Division II schools too.
3. MRS. GRACE HO asked the following question (in English):—What progress has been made on Council's recommendation to Government that refuse storage facilities should be provided by developers in multi-storey buildings?
DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):—This question concerns the progress on the Council's recommendation to the Government for the mandatory provision of refuse storage facilities in new multi-storey buildings.
The Council has long been pressing for the mandatory provision of refuse storage chambers in new multi-storey buildings. I'm happy to report that some progress has been made in this direction. The Building Ordinance Office, having consulted the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers and the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, has agreed in principle to the recommendations put forward by
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