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1976 a period of 4 years we shall have to develop sites for and build a further 290,000 individual units. A few of these sites are likely to be found in the Urban Areas—but I would stress that there are very few in this location.
7. Certain Members have, over the past two years, stated that there is plenty of room in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon for more housing estates, that persons displaced by Urban Renewal or the relief of overcrowding in Resettlement Estates must be resettled in the same area, that Government was simply not interested in the welfare of the people, etc. I think, however, that in general this Council now agrees with my view that if we wish to raise the living standards of the mass of the population and prevent erosion of our environment below the level which some people, with justification, contend is already unsatisfactory by modern standards, then we must turn to the New Territories.
8. I do not, however, think that we need be pessimistic in our assessment of this issue as the recent census has shown that the construction of housing estates in outlying areas has already resulted in a considerable dispersal of the Urban Population. It must be borne in mind that it is not so long ago that Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong and Tsz Wan Shan were outlying areas and it seems that it was only yesterday the new road to Kwai Chung enhanced the popularity of the estates at Kwai Hing, Kwai Shing, Kwai Fong and Lei Muk Shue.
9. Indirectly, of course, any new housing estate which is built and occupied has a beneficial effect upon the older densely populated areas where thinning out takes place. In this respect surveys carried out indicate that the average occupancy of residential floor space improved from 70 sq. ft. gross per person in 1961 to 115 sq. ft. in 1971. This is a very considerable and significant improvement and while there are still pockets of severe overcrowding in areas such as Shau Kei Wan and Yau Ma Tei, I expect that conditions will continue to improve. In fact accepting that building in the private sector will continue as in the past and that the present programme of 700,000 units of Government Housing will be built and occupied by 1976, then, by then, the cry for quantity will change to quality.
10. It has always been my view and I think Members here will support this that the standards of accommodation in Government Housing Estates should be improved but that these improvements should be paid for by increased rents. In some respects they have, of course, been improving all the time with successive marks of blocks, Estate Schools, Restaurants, Modular Markets, Clinics, etc. but acceptance by Government of improved standards of the actual living accommodation to be provided in Resettlement Estates, which have been raised in two stages to the standards of Low Cost Housing Estates, has not only simplified the problems of design and construction in that standard blocks can be used for all Government Housing but has also made possible the idea of mixed estates occupied by those in need of resettlement and those qualified for Government Low Cost Housing.
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11. The next obvious step is to accept Housing Authority standards as the norm and in this respect I think it is worth pointing out that this step should not be a very difficult or financially painful one. 35 sq. ft. per person nett; exclusive of toilet, cooking area and verandah; is now the common design standard and the quality and provision of fittings and finishes is similar except that only an area with cooking benches, rather than a kitchen proper, is provided in Resettlement accommodation. It is in the provision of community facilities where the Housing Authority Estates score and in this respect I think it is worth mentioning that with few notable exceptions, such as the Mei Foo Estate, they provide better social and living conditions (and certainly better conditions of light and air) than the dense blocks of more expensive and luxurious accommodation built by private enterprise. I am optimistic that the Government Housing Estate planned for Sha Tin will be built to these standards as there an existing infrastructure of older areas, such as here they can be fully justified that which serves the resettlement estates in Kowloon etc., is lacking.
12. Mr. Chairman, for an Official I have probably spoken too long and too freely. If this is so I apologize. Perhaps all I need to have said is that my aim is to complete the construction of the 700,000 individual units of Government Housing in the present 6-year programme. If this can be achieved with the modernizing of the older estates, and if we can encourage people (and industrialists) to move to the new areas in the New Territories which will house the estates and take a pride in their housing then, by 1976, the standard of housing and general living conditions throughout the whole Colony will be vastly improved. This, I am sure, is the aim of all Members of this Council; Elected, Appointed and Official; and with mutual trust, support and co-operation I see no reason why it cannot be achieved.
Sir I support the Motion. (Applause).
VICE-CHAIRMAN:-Mr. Chairman, the declared aims of this Council for 1972 will, if pressed home, contribute in no small measure to the improvement of the physical and mental health of the people of this community and to the quality of living in general. The responsibilities which rest with the Council to achieve these objectives are great and, I would have thought, their magnitude would have precluded the shouldering of other responsibilities until at least the present objectives have been accomplished, consolidated and perfected.
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1976 a period of 4 years we shall have to develop sites for and build a further 290,000 individual units. A few of these sites are likely to be found in the Urban Areas-but I would stress that there are very few in this location.
7. Certain Members have, over the past two years, stated that there is plenty of room in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon for more housing estates, that persons displaced by Urban Renewal or the relief of overcrowding in Resettlement Estates must be resettled in the same area, that Government was simply not interested in the welfare of the people, etc. I think, however, that in general this Council now agrees with my view that if we wish to raise the living standards of the mass of the population and prevent erosion of our environment below the level which some people, with justification, contend is already unsatis- factory by modern standards, then we must turn to the New Territories.
8. I do not, however, think that we need be pessimistic in our assessment of this issue as the recent census has shown that the con- struction of housing estates in outlying areas has already resulted in a considerable dispersal of the Urban Population. It must be borne in mind that it is not so long ago that Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong and Tsz Wan Shan were outlying areas and it seems that it was only yesterday the new road to Kwai Chung enhanced the popularity of the estates at Kwai Hing, Kwai Shing, Kwai Fong and Lei Muk Shue.
9. Indirectly, of course, any new housing estate which is built and occupied has a beneficial effect upon the older densely populated areas where thinning out takes place. In this respect surveys carried out indicate that the average occupancy of residential floor space im- proved from 70 sq. ft. gross per person in 1961 to 115 sq. ft. in 1971. This is a very considerable and significant improvement and while there are still pockets of severe overcrowding in areas such as Shau Kei Wan and Yau Ma Tei, I expect that conditions will continue to improve. In fact accepting that building in the private sector will continue as in the past and that the present programme of 700,000 units of Govern- ment Housing will be built and occupied by 1976, then, by then, the cry for quantity will change to quality.
10. It has always been my view and I think Members here will support this that the standards of accommodation in Government Housing Estates should be improved but that these improvements should be paid for by increased rents. In some respects they have, of course, been improving all the time with successive marks of blocks, Estate Schools, Restaurants, Modular Markets, Clinics, etc. but accept- ance by Government of improved standards of the actual living accom- modation to be provided in Resettlement Estates, which have been raised in two stages to the standards of Low Cost Housing Estates, has not only simplified the problems of design and construction in that
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
391
standard blocks can be used for all Government Housing but has also made possible the idea of mixed estates occupied by those in need of resettlement and those qualified for Government Low Cost Housing.
11. The next obvious step is to accept Housing Authority standards as the norm and in this respect I think it is worth pointing out that this step should not be a very difficult or financially painful one. 35 sq. ft. per person nett; exclusive of toilet, cooking area and verandah; is now the common design standard and the quality and provision of fittings and finishes is similar except that only an area with cooking benches, rather than a kitchen proper, is provided in Resettlement accommodation. It is in the provision of community facilities where the Housing Authority Estates score and in this respect I think it is worth mentioning that with few notable exceptions, such as the Mei Foo Estate, they provide better social and living conditions (and certainly better conditions of light and air) than the dense blocks of more expensive and luxurious accommodation built by private enter- prise. I am optimistic that the Government Housing Estate planned for Sha Tin will be built to these standards as there an existing infra structure of older areas, such as here they can be fully justified that which serves the resettlement estates in Kowloon etc., is lacking.
12. Mr. Chairman, for an Official I have probably spoken too long and too freely. If this is so I apologize. Perhaps all I need to have said is that my aim is to complete the construction of the 700,000 individual units of Government Housing in the present 6-year pro- gramme. If this can be achieved with the modernizing of the older estates, and if we can encourage people (and industrialists) to move to the new areas in the New Territories which will house the estates and take a pride in their housing then, by 1976, the standard of housing and general living conditions throughout the whole Colony will be vastly improved. This, I am sure, is the aim of all Members of this Council; Elected, Appointed and Official; and with mutual trust, support and co-operation I see no reason why it cannot be achieved.
Sir I support the Motion. (Applause).
VICE-CHAIRMAN:-Mr. Chairman, the declared aims of this Council for 1972 will, if pressed home, contribute in no small measure to the improvement of the physical and mental health of the people of this community and to the quality of living in general. The responsibilities which rest with the Council to achieve these objectives are great and, I would have thought, their magnitude would have precluded the shoulding of other responsibilities until at least the present objectives have been accomplished, consolidated and perfected.
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