Antiquities Advisory Board meets today
At its meeting held on December 19, 1996, the Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) recommended that the King Law Ka Shuk at Tai Po Tau Tsuen, Tai Po should be declared historical building under the Antiquities and Monument Ordinance.
The Board also endorsed the position papers on the Town Planning White Bill and the Territorial Development Strategy (TDS) Review.
In respect of the Town Planning White Bill, the Board in general welcomed the introduction of the Special Design Area (SDA) concept and was pleased to see that the definition of "environment" included the cultural environment. The Board, however, urged that the following views be incorporated to and considered for the final draft of the White Bill:
A list of gazetted monuments, existing and future, should be included in the explanatory statements of the respective Outline Zoning Plans, and their status clearly stipulated.
Archaeological sites should be either regarded as "sites of special scientific interest" or included under SDA.
A formal mechanism should be set up to consult AAB on the selection for designation of SDAs in relation to heritage and оп development/planning proposals affecting the SDAs.
The environs of monuments gazetted under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance should be automatically designated as SDAs.
As to the TDS Review, the Board considered that heritage preservation had not been treated fairly and equally with the natural environment and other infrastructural needs. The Board had a number of long-term plans for the furtherance of heritage preservation and requested that the team working on the TDS to liaise closely with the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) in their future endeavours.
The Board strongly urged that:
Adequate resources had to be fully provided for the protection, preservation and conservation of both the built heritage and archaeological sites.