TNAG-1750-FCO40-2470-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1988 — Page 137

(ii) to provide more opportunities for District Board members to parti- cipate directly in the work of the Urban Council and its Select Committees;

(iii) to expand the membership of the Urban Council to incl either: (a) a representative of each urban District Board, elected to the Council from among Board members (i.e. the system used by the Regional Council); or

(b) the Chairman of each urban District Board as an ex-officio

member.

63. Those who support option (i) consider that it would improve commu- nication between the District Boards and the Council and would provide opportunities for District Board members to gain wider experience of govern- ment at the regional level. However, to discontinue direct elections to the Urban Council would be regarded by many as a retrograde step, particularly having regard to the long history of elected membership on the Council. Such a change would also call into question the composition of the Regional Council, only a short time after its establishment.

64. There are a number of ways in which option (ii) might be achieved:

(a) District Board Chairmen or their nominated representatives could attend Select Committee meetings, or even meetings of the Standing Committee of the Whole Council. Although the Board members would have no voting power, they would have more opportunity to represent directly the views of their districts on matters of concern to them.

(b) The present policy, which requires an urban District Board member who is subsequently elected to the Urban Council to give up his District Board seat, could be relaxed. There is no requirement for Regional Council members to give up their District Board seats.

If one or both of these measures were supported, it would be for consideration whether they should be introduced as a supplement to the existing cross- membership arrangements or instead of them. Neither course would necessarily satisfy the criticisms of District Board members.

65. Option (iii) is that preferred by most District Board members, as it would enable the urban District Boards to participate directly in the decision-making process of the Urban Council, in the same way as their counterparts in the New Territories participate in the work of the Regional Council. It would also help to ensure that the views of district residents are fully reflected on the Council. Members of the Urban Council consider, however, that the inclusion of members elected both directly and indirectly from the same geographical areas would bring into question the representative status of each type of member, even though this does not seem to have been a problem so far on the Regional Council.

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