1985

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CHAIRMAN (in English):—Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting is called to order

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 April 1985, were confirmed.

CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—I wish to begin this month's public meeting extending a very sincere and warm welcome to our sister body in the New Territories, the Provisional Regional Council.

This new Council is of course still very much in the formative stage; nevertheless, it will, I am sure, quickly settle down to the wide range of responsibilities of serving the civic needs of the people of the New Territories. The new Provisional Council, under its experienced and capable Chairman, will undoubtedly do all in its power to improve the quality of life for the million odd people of the New Territories, and if the Urban Council is asked to give any help, I can give an assurance that this will be given without hesitation and with the utmost goodwill.

Turning to yet another development in our rapidly evolving system of more representative local government, it is also my pleasant duty today to congratulate, on behalf of the Urban Council, the newly elected Chairmen of the territory's District Boards, in particular those Chairmen and, in the case of my own District Board, the Chairwoman of all of the urban District Boards.

The Urban Council is firmly committed to working as closely as practicable with the District Boards in the urban area since, whether Board member or Urban Councillor, we all have the one single goal ahead of us, and that is to improve the quality of life and make Hong Kong an even better place to live in. Already the Council, through the planning staff of the Urban Services Department, has started its second annual round of consultations with the Urban District Boards on the Council's capital works programme. The aim of these consultations is to take each District Board fully into our confidence concerning all of the projects, large and small, planned for that district in our 5-year rolling programme of building various civic projects, which may range in size and importance from district civic centres, auditoria, sports facilities, and markets down to lesser but equally necessary urban works.

Now, to turn to the Council itself, I am happy to report that our move last month in opening up to the general public far more of our decision-making processes has been widely supported both by the media and the public at large.

We live in an evolving political situation where public accountability is coming more and more to the fore, and so as a Council, we are only too pleased to let the public see how we keep a finger on the pulse of this exciting and dynamic city of ours.

This new system, which brings into the open the important decisions previously taken by the Standing Committee of the Whole Council, brings further into the public glare the responsibilities of the hardworking chairmen and chairwomen—and the committee members of our 13 Select Committees and Boards—which are responsible for every phase of urban services in Hong Kong. These Committees and Boards will thus be called on to make an even greater contribution to the workings of this Council by publicly probing all proposals and being seen to be fine-tuning all decisions and schemes so that they are both more efficient and more economical.

Finally, we must express our sincere thanks to the new Director of Urban Services, Mr. Augustine CHUI, who, so shortly after taking up his post, has found himself on occasion the man in the witness box at these opening meetings, being peppered with penetrating questions while playing his vital role in our decision-making processes.

(Mr. LEE Chik-yuet and Mrs. Nellie FONG arrived during the Chairman's address.)

The following paper was laid on the table:—(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of April 1985.

1. MR. WALTER M. SULKE asked the following question (in English):—I refer to the now famous Banyan Trees in Stanley. Could I please be informed why the relevant Government Departments ignored proper procedure and did not ask the Urban Council for permission to remove these ancient trees, and could I please be informed what steps are being taken to prevent this sort of thing happening again, and has the USD made an inventory of old and historic trees, especially in places where town planning indicates further ribbon development, and, lastly, what is the position now regarding the preservation of the Banyan trees in question?

MR. HOWARD H. W. Young, Chairman of the Recreation Select Committee, replied as follows (in English):—This question relates to the old banyan trees at Stanley Market Road and is in four parts. The first two parts concern the adherence to proper procedure by Government Departments in respect of the removal of trees.

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