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Question: Mr Patten, let me first of all express my gratitude and appreciation to you, Mrs Patten and other members of the Patten family for representing Hong Kong with civility, dignity and good humour, Now after the compliments, criticism.
Okay, the question I am about to put to you concerns consumer protection which I think is woefully inadequate in Hong Kong. In your recent visits to Hong Kong areas have you noticed something very strange, very curious, going on? Do you notice these box-like protruding window-frames on the new housing developments? Do you know why they are there? They are there because the protruding area, the window-sills, now count as so-called living-areas, so that often when you buy into a flat you get less than 70 per cent of living-space, of useable space. Hong Kong consumers are asked to pay for this kind of what I consider rapacious commercial greed. I think Prince Charles would have something to say about the architecture too. It is stylistically uniform and uniformly ugly.
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So in the next nine months of your governance please do something about it. You know the ridiculous situation is some of the old buildings have been recalculated to now become larger areas, principally because we do not have a net area in Hong Kong, we all use gross areas and this has made home-ownership so much more difficulty that you were talking about. It is now beyond the reach of most consumers in Hong Kong and I wish you would do something about it and please do not go gently into the good night.
Governor: Thank you. There is a group of elderly citizens just leaving. If they would like to leave behind - I might have accepted a petition already - but if they have got a petition or letter that they would like to leave behind for me, perhaps one of the stewards could collect it.
Well, it shows what a contentious issue housing is. I have certainly noticed the phenomenon you described. I have certainly noticed when I visited housing blocks myself the tendency nowadays to bring what used to be the terrace, the balcony, into the flat area. And I will ensure that your views on design are conveyed both to those who are undertaking the housing strategy review and to the Housing Authority as well. It is obviously a feature which affects both home ownership schemes and the Housing Authority public rental flats as well.
You are right about the importance of good housing design to quality of life. And you are right too about the importance of design in our housing strategy. I hope we can get things better. And Prince Charles does have views on the subject.