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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
## ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Ladies and Gentlemen, may I call the meeting to order.
## MINUTES
The minutes of meeting held on 11 October 1994 were confirmed.
## PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of October 1994.
## QUESTIONS
(1) THE HONOURABLE LI WAH-MING asked the following question (in Cantonese): From my observation, quite a number of sitting-out areas and parks of the Council are remotely located and hence are utilised by very few citizens. I would like to ask:
(a) Whether the sites allocated to the Council for the development of recreational venues are, in general, conveniently located?
(b) Has the Council made regular reviews on the utilisation rates of all its parks and sitting-out areas?
(c) Do we have any concrete remedial measures to resolve the problem of those constantly under-utilised parks and sitting-out areas?
MR. RONNIE WONG MAN-CHIU, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-This question is in three parts. The first part asks whether the sites allocated to the Council for the development of recreational venues are, in general, conveniently located.
Most of the lands allocated to the Council for recreational development are conveniently located. However, some of the Council's gardens and sitting-out areas are developed on relatively less convenient sites.
The Council's gardens and sitting-out areas are developed on lands zoned as 'open space'. There are two types of open spaces: 'local open space' serves the residents in the immediate vicinity and 'district open space' serves residents from a wider area. According to the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines, a minimum of 15 hectares of open space should be provided for 100,000 persons. As land in Hong Kong is at a premium, open spaces located in convenient sites are limited. In order to meet the shortfall, it is often necessary to use lands in the periphery of the district for open space development. Such lands include picnic areas, lookouts, service reservoir decks and landfill sites.
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The Department, acting on behalf of the Council, has been actively negotiating with the Government for more lands in convenient locations for open space developments. The redevelopment of old inner city sites and the reclamation on both sides of the harbor allow more lands to be rezoned as open spaces. On the other hand, the Department will also continue to take care not to acquire lands which have either low potential for open space development or excessive site constraints such as steep slopes, drainage reserves, road reserves and polluted sites.
As to whether regular reviews on the utilisation rates of all its parks and sitting-out areas are conducted and what measures have been taken to resolve the problem of those constantly under-utilised venues. Utilisation rates of all Council's parks and sitting-out areas are regularly monitored and reviewed by venue staff. For example, two bench-mark surveys were carried out in 1990 and 1992 by an outside consultant to find out, among other things, the usage rates of Council's parks and playgrounds. The results of these surveys indicated that the Council's parks and playgrounds were generally well utilised. Based on the Department's observations, what may sometimes appear to be a remote site is in fact quite popular with a small section of the community who may wish to find a secluded place to enjoy the peace and tranquility and to escape from the highly densed living environment.
The Department is fully aware of the need to upgrade its old parks and remote venues in order to maintain their attraction. In 1989, the Council approved the improvement of 23 parks and playground. This project has now been largely completed. At the moment, the Department is identifying other suitable sites for another round of improvement exercise. Apart from these, minor improvement works were carried out from time to time to upgrade the facilities, for example the provision of rain-shelters, park lights, arbours and benches, fitness equipment, play equipment and landscape planting.
THE HONOURABLE LI WAH-MING (in Cantonese): In paragraph two of the reply, it is said that some of the Council's parks and sitting-out areas are developed on relatively less convenient sites. Even if you improve the recreational facilities there, there will not be much impact on the utilisation rates. So, is there a policy to convert these gardens and sitting-out areas into venues for more passive recreational purposes such as greenery in order to reduce recurrent expenditure?
MR. RONNIE WONG MAN-CHIU (in Cantonese): The gardens and sitting-out areas that are inconveniently located account for about 10% of all our parks and sitting-out areas. In the course of applying for lands from the Government, the USD staff have been trying very hard to get convenient sites. However, as I have pointed out, land is at a premium in Hong Kong, and it would be difficult to get a site that is conveniently located. However, as Mr. Li has pointed out, if it is proven that these sites are under utilised, we would recommend to the USD to turn them into greenery and passive recreational venues, in order to cut down on maintenance costs.
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