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DR. RONALD LEUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask a question about the making of statistics. I would like to ask whether it is feasible to have a Secretariat department to compile an up-to-date list of all the land alienated and the compensation we get, such a simple list would not involve too much time and effort.
MR. KENNETH Lo (in English):—I am afraid I do not share Dr. LEUNG'S optimism about the small effort required. I think certainly over the past 5 years or so, almost every meeting or other meetings there would be a request for alienation on a small piece of land or something like that, so to compile these statistics, we have to ask someone to go through carefully the minutes of every Recreation Select Committee meeting, and then to trace from that particular paper and look at the plan attached and work out exactly what the alienation was and so on, and I think it will take a good few weeks for this work to be done.
MR. C. K. CHAN (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask a question, for a large playground and large park, sometimes we have proposals for underground carparks, in fact, the decision does not lie with us, the Government gives us a freedom to use these pieces of land and we are just being consulted, is that not the case?
MR. KENNETH Lo (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I think partly correct, but certainly not within our power to grant someone the right to build an underground carpark, that certainly is outside our jurisdiction. On the other hand, our consent is to be obtained, I think, before they can go to interfere with any particular playground.
DR. THE Honourable Kim Cham (in English):—Mr. Chairman, in considering alienation against compensatory land grants, does the Council take a narrow view that alienation must be compensated or, on the other hand, do we take a broad view that such alienations are beneficial to the community, and are essential for the thoroughfare traffic etc.?
MR. KENNETH Lo (in English):—Mr. Chairman, we take the broad view. In many cases, vast majority of the cases as I have said before, it is only a few square metres and to ask for a few square metres back is not very meaningful.
DR. THE HONOUrable Kim Cham (in English):—So, Sir, the statistics are really not that important if we take a broad view taking into consideration the community's interest.
MR. KENNETH Lo (in English):—I would entirely agree with that, Mr. Chairman. If a case comes up in the future, where a very important public facility has be sited on a small bit of Urban Council open space, then the fact that in the last 10 years, certain areas had been taken away or not taken away, really would not affect our decision.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MRS. MARGARET LI (in English):—I am not sure whether it is a supplementary question, may I just express a view.
CHAIRMAN (in English):—Well, Kenneth has a very receptive mood, I do not think that he will disagree.
MRS. MARGARET LI (in English): In response to Dr. Kim CHAM and Mr. Kenneth Lo's mutual agreement that we should take a broad view, i.e. community's benefit, it would seem to me that the Recreation Select Committee's deliberation on each case could become something automatic, since anything which can be classified as community's benefit, and by that I assume which is outside the power and strict terms of reference of the Council, such request would seem to me to be quite automatically approved.
MR. KENNETH Lo (in English): Not automatically, Mr. Chairman, I think we would approach it in this way, but we have by agreeing will lose a small area of open space, but will gain a particular facility and by disagreeing we retain the open space and the facilities such as subways or elevated footpaths cannot be built, we weigh one against the other.
8. MRS. NELLIE FONG asked the following question (in English):—I have heard that the Lawn Bowls Teams representing Hong Kong have achieved outstanding results in both the Commonwealth Games and in the World Championships having obtained several gold medals and numerous silver and bronze medals in the past. I would therefore like to ask what facilities are available to the public in Hong Kong for individuals who would like to take up lawn bowls. In addition, if Lawn Bowls has achieved such outstanding international reputation for Hong Kong, should Urban Council provide additional facilities to create further interest in Hong Kong.
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo, Chairman of the RECREATION SELECT Committee, replied as follows (in English):—The question asks what facilities are available to the public who would like to take up lawn bowls and whether the Urban Council should provide additional facilities.
Until recent years, lawn bowls in Hong Kong has been conducted on a private club basis. At present there are a number of bowling greens owned and operated by private clubs for their members and guests. The Urban Council also provides two bowling greens at Victoria Park for public use. Each of these greens comprises 6 playing areas, or rinks. One of the two greens, converted from a putting green, was opened for use only in September last year. The current charge for use of a Council bowling green is $24 per rink per hour subject to a maximum of 8 players at any one time at any one rink.
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