No_6_April_1964 — Page 89

Outline development

"The Town Planning Ordinance is rudimentary but it has enabled out- line development or zoning plans to be prepared for most of the develop- ing district. Within the context of these statutory plans, detailed Govern- ment plans are prepared to guide the design of roads. and other services and the sale and development of land. Zoning is limited largely to the separation of industrial and residential areas and the provision of land for open space and other community uses. In recent years. more specific zoning has been con- sidered necessary in certain special circumstances to ensure the most suitable use of our limited harbour- frontage and to protect the interests. of the Port. However, the Town Planning Ordinance itself has no 'teeth and all development control is exercised either through the Build- ings Ordinance or the conditions of each individual lot.

"Government is fortunate in own- ing the freehold of all land. New development schemes can therefore be effected with relatively low land compensation costs. It is for these new areas that development plans have mainly been prepared and where they are most effective and most profitable. The lease conditions give effect to the plan. The planners. of course, do not always get their way there are many stages in the process and many places where the planners may be tripped up, but once the plan is passed its implementation is generally rapid. It is, of course. just at this stage that the planner has further thoughts and wants to make a change.

"Until the Buildings Ordinance was revised in 1955 a special waiver had to be obtained in respect of all domestic buildings exceeding five storeys. The new Ordinance, drafted in the early 50's under the intense pressure of a large, expanding and badly housed population permitted buildings generally up to a height of twice the width of the street. the same time the practice of selling individual flats started, and the com- bination of these two factors lead to the many multi-storey. multi-user buildings in sub-divided ownership

At

some held by 300-400 separate owners which dominate our urban

areas today, and present serious pro- blems for the future.

"The present Ordinance

Ordinance allows domestic buildings with a plot ratio

that is the ratio of the gross floor area of the building to the area of the lot exceeding 20, and many domestic buildings approach. and some exceed. this figure. The maxi- mum figure for Central London is 5.5

New regulations, taking effect in 1966. limit the intensity of build- ing by plot ratio increasing with building height but with an upper limit of 10 for domestic buildings and 15 for non-domestic. This will help to limit future increases in in- tensity in existing urban centres and is undoubtedly a step forward.

density zoning. largely by plot ratio, covering all the urban area and parts of the New Territories.

"A further responsibility of the Planning Division is the reservation of sites within layouts for Govern- ment. institutional and community uses. Space again dictates standards. Thirty-classroom primary schools, for example. used bi-sessionally to accommodate 2.700

2.700 children, are built to a standard design. on half an acre of land. And despite Aber- crombie's recommendation in his report in 1948 of three-quarters of an acre of open space for 1.000 population I note that the same figure is quoted in the Buchanan Report for the Central London study

Photographed at an exhibition held by the H. K. branch of the Town Planning Institute are Mr. I. Hughes, Director of Extra-mural studies, H.K. University; Mr. A.M.J. Wright, Director of Public Works, and Mr. R. C. Clarke, the author of this article.

Height limit

"Density zoning, as distinct from density control, has until recently been rather fragmentary. In the inter-war years our predecessors laid down a height limit of 35 feet for the central part of the Kowloon Peninsula and the mid-levels and rural parts of the Island. This limit has now been relaxed to allow build. ings of 12 or more storeys but com- plementary coverage limitations have kept densities in these districts at a reasonable level. They have also resulted in some economy in services. It is hoped shortly to establish a comprehensive, yet simple system of

THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER-VOLUME 18, NUMBER 6

we are forced to plan new towns at occupancy rates which result in scale very much less than this, even down to 0.1 of an acre per 1.000 persons a very low figure: but we are fortunate in having natural green belts formed by undevelopable hills and unreclaimable seas.

Planning, as one might expect. is not immune from committees. Of prime importance are the Town Planning Board concerned with statutory plans and the Land Develop- nient Planning Committee, largely concerned to ensure that schenies put forward are economically sound and make the best use of land without placing undue strain on Government

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