C.S. 166
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CONFIDENTIAL # Z
XCC(77)82
Possible courses of action
Copy No....... of 80 Page 7
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If Honourable Members were to concur with the official view that the Government Town Planner's proposals (annexed) were more appropriate, their adoption in opposition to expected public opinion and in the expectation of strong public criticism would undoubtedly appear to have defeated the object of the establishment of the Victoria Barracks Planning Committee, which was to introduce an independent body to advise on the use of the area. It could, moreover, give serious offence to the members of the Committee. Bearing in mind the Secretary for Home Affairs' advice that the publication of the Committee's report cannot be avoided, one way of dealing with the matter would be for the alternative proposals to be referred back to the Committee. Under normal Town Planning Ordinance procedure, the Governor in Council may refer a draft plan submitted for his approval back to the Town Planning Board for reconsideration, and so a reference of the planning proposals back to the Victoria Barracks Planning Committee would have a respectable precedent, and could be done without a public explanation: of the detailed reasons for the reference.
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The Chairman of the Committee, Mr W, Szeto, has been consulted and has no objection to the proposed procedure. However, if Honourable Members were to accept this proposal, it would have to be accepted that it would be extremely difficult to do other than approve the Committee's final proposals submitted after this reference back by the Governor in Council. Nor could it avoid mentioning its earlier proposals in its final report. Thus not all public criticism could be avoided, and the Committee might well prefer to stick to its own proposals, rather than associate itself with the official view.
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Alternatively, Honourable Members may feel that, given that the Committee's report does not fulfill its terms of reference in certain important aspects and bearing in mind the importance of the future use of this area, they would advise that a decision should be taken now to adopt the proposals as annexed or something similar.
Publicity
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Clearly the publicity needed will depend on the decision made in this Council. Approval of the Committee's
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Private notes are available after approval.