1984

384

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN

CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):--Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting is called to order.

MINUTES

The minutes of the meetings held on 15 and 17 January 1985 were confirmed.

STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN

CHAIRMAN (in English):—

Introduction

Following this year's Motion on the Annual Conventional Debate, I did not exercise my Right of Reply. However, some of the points raised which are relevant to the Council's sphere should not pass without comment. Furthermore, all the various points raised by members which were outside the Council's scope of responsibility have been referred to Government for consideration.

Administration

Concerning administration, a general point was made by Dr. Kim CHAM that the Council should delegate many of its various functions to the Department. Indeed, many Select Committees do seem to spend a great amount of time considering minor management matters which could well be dealt with by the Department without being referred to Select Committees. The important thing is that the Council makes the policy and once it has done this, it is for the Department to implement the policy, and provided this is done efficiently and with cost effectiveness, the details should not worry us too much. I have asked the Department to look at ways of following through such policy decisions to streamline procedures and eliminate unnecessary paperwork for the Council.

Mr. Joseph CHAN voiced a point on private clubs. It is indeed true that we have both very respectable and genuine private clubs and alternatively other clubs which appear to have been set up to circumvent the Council's rules, since a private club does not require a licence for its facilities. It has proved possible in some cases to prosecute private clubs operating as unlicensed restaurants, while the question of certain billiard saloons operating ostensibly as clubs is also being looked into. This is, however, a very thorny area and one in which we will have to move forward carefully.

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Dr. CHAM also made reference to cost reductions on functional services arising from suggestions made by first-line managers in particular. This is obviously a sensible approach and will be looked into.

Capital Works

Concerning capital works, an interesting point raised by Mr. Samuel WONG was the suggestion to prepare a 'Deficiencies List' of facilities in each district in accordance with the shortfall from the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines. However attractive this idea may be, there are practical drawbacks to such an approach—in some if not most districts, the land available for recreation and culture development is in very short supply, and production of a 'Deficiencies List' may only lead the District Boards to wish for the provision of facilities which due to lack of space simply cannot be provided. However, basically the Council is moving towards meeting deficiencies where land and money are available. Also of course, a district works programme is submitted to the various districts each year; this is certainly more meaningful as people would much prefer to know what we are able to provide than what we are not able to provide.

Mr. Wong also brought up the question of a central planning unit for all the Council's planning and development works, and I have asked the Department to examine the suggestion.

Dr. Ronald LEUNG considered that the number of Urban Council facilities now under planning did not equate with Government's desire for zero staff growth. The fact is, however, new projects do have to be serviced and require more staff. On the credit side, the Council in the last financial year ended up with fewer posts than in the previous year, which demonstrates the efforts that have been made in this direction.

Dr. LEUNG also made a plea for simpler and therefore more quickly completed projects. Every effort is being made to discourage over-design in the building of Council's complexes. There is generally only limited land available and if one can get a market, library, games hall, office accommodation etc. on the same site in land-deficient Hong Kong, this is far better than to spread the buildings over a number of sites. That would in turn produce a greater demand for staffing than would be required by centralised services.

Libraries

Concerning libraries, Mr. Howard YOUNG suggested that the Council provide computer facilities in its libraries, and this is in fact being looked into by the Libraries Select Committee.

Mr. Samuel WONG suggested that the Council should provide more study facilities in its libraries for students. The Council does provide 1,830 seats in various study rooms which operate in three sessions; furthermore, at busy examination periods, the number of seats is increased to 5,490 per day. The