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recreation is not a privilege of the few, but the right of every citizen, young and old. The number of people utilizing our beaches from early Spring till late Autumn is becoming increasingly large and I understand exceeds twelve million per annum, taxing our beaches to beyond the point of saturation. The Council has been continuously making improvements to facilities on our beaches, but I hope we can go even further in terms of area and off-peak utilization.
Although the hinterland of some of our popular beaches such as Repulse Bay consists of built-up areas, there are also beaches behind which there is land either being used as private clubs, small-scale private business or even agriculture, for instance Deep Water Bay, Shek O, Big Wave Bay. With such a growing public demand for recreational facilities, it is really worth the Council and Government taking measures to convert a greater part of the land beside and behind beaches for development for public use.
In the interim, the cost effectiveness of improving our beaches for the public ought to be examined in the light of their immense popularity. For instance, I understand the Council discarded the short-term measure of adding sand on to beaches because it was found to be washed away after a certain period of time. But if we matched the cost with the number of people enjoying the facility over this period of time, we might find that the cost per head would be low. If the Council in another sphere can afford to subsidize licensed hawkers to the extent of over $1,000 per head per annum, do not our working people who want to be a beach-user instead of a hawker on their day-off deserve some consideration too? In fact, it is also not impossible to contemplate that some people might be quite happy to choose and pay a small fee to offset part of the cost for a certain section of beach, provided the improvement was real and the cost was reasonable.
If we go past places like Deep Water Bay and Repulse Bay on a summer Saturday night, one might get the wrong impression that the mid-Autumn Lantern Festival was on—in fact it is groups of young people barbequeing or staying out till the early hours of the morning or even overnight on beaches. Last summer, the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee experimented with the Auxiliary Litter Warden Scheme, and one of the feedbacks was that it was morale destroying to arrive on duty on Sunday morning to see a whole beach littered with filth caused by Saturday night beach-goers. It is unfortunate that despite numerous campaigns to keep our beaches and Hong Kong clean, there are still plenty of people who have not appreciated the message. My reference to the above situation is not to advocate curtailing the use of beaches at night, but on the contrary to suggest encouraging more use of them at these off-peak hours, but at the same time with more control and enforcement.
Firstly, we must realistically recognize the demand for certain beach facilities at night and therefore ensure that our staffing in terms of litter warden enforcement is adequate to cater for such a demand. It is no use leaving the mess till the morning because although it can be cleared the next day, the opportunity of educating people through enforcement will have been missed—and these are probably the people most in need of such Clean education. Keep Hong Kong Clean.
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enforcement is adequate to cater for such a demand. It is no use leaving the mess till the morning because although it can be cleared the next day, the opportunity of educating people through enforcement will have been missed—and these are probably the people most in need of such Keep Hong Kong Clean education.
Secondly, I hope we can review the regulations regarding camping on beaches. Camping as a recreational activity has really taken off in the last few years, and it is not uncommon to see factory workers going out in groups after dinner on Saturday night first by coach and then Kaidos to remote areas in the New Territories to camp. And yet, our Urban area beaches are so close, so accessible but camping officially is not allowed. I can understand the inconvenience to the public if tents are pitched during the daytime on a crowded beach, or the undesirability of having people staying on a beach overnight sleeping on old newspapers or plastic sheets and then leaving them there in the morning. Modern camping equipment, including outdoor cooking equipment nowadays is not only fairly sophisticated and hygienic, but also within reasonable reach of the working public. Furthermore, most of our beaches by now also have adequate sanitary facilities and sufficient litter disposal receptacles. Is there any longer a real reason that we should not, say, designate certain areas of some beaches where camping is not only allowed after and before certain hours, but also encouraged, and staffed up to ensure environmental hygiene? I believe we would be meeting a public demand if we did so, and by proper enforcement and guidance, we would be getting the Keep the Beach and Hong Kong Clean education across to the right people.
Mr. Chairman, I will now continue my speech in Cantonese.
(in Cantonese)
Housing
During last year's annual debate, when speaking on matters outside the jurisdiction of this Council, I expressed concern at the way speculators were making it more difficult for genuine home buyers to purchase their own flat. One year later, the price of flats has risen even higher, although recent Government announcements on rent control, late as they may have come, could well have the welcome effect of dampening down speculation in flats. It would be unthinkable to allow speculation and control of a daily necessity such as water, and the Government has rules to prevent the control by speculators over rice, although it is probably out of date nowadays to regard this as an unduly essential commodity. I regard housing just as important to the common man as food and water, so I think there is good enough reason not to allow flat speculation to go on unabated. If people wish to speculate in stocks and shares, or bullion, or the year of The Monkey Gold Coins, then fair enough because all of these are not basic essentials of life, but we must not treat one's own home in the same category. Last year, I hoped that
Page 112 of 136
Page 111 of 136
188
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
recreation is not a privilege of the few, but the right of every citizen, young and old. The number of people utilizing our beaches from early Spring till late Autumn is becoming increasingly large and I understand exceeds twelve million per annum, taxing our beaches to beyond the point of saturation. The Council has been continuously making improvements to facilities on our beaches, but I hope we can go even further in terms of area and off-peak
utilization.
Although the hinterland of some of our popular beaches such as Repulse Bay consists of built-up areas, there are also beaches behind which there is land either being used as private clubs, small-scale private business or even agriculture, for instance Deep Water Bay, Shek O, Big Wave Bay. With such a growing public demand for recreational facilities, it is really worth the Council and Government taking measures to convert a greater part of the land beside and behind beaches for development for public use.
In the interim, the cost effectiveness of improving our beaches for the public ought to be examined in the light of their immense popularity. For instance, I understand the Council discarded the short-term measure of adding sand on to beaches because it was found to be washed away after a certain period of time. But if we matched the cost with the number of people enjoying the facility over this period of time, we might find that the cost per head would be low. If the Council in another sphere can afford to subsidize licensed hawkers to the extent of over $1,000 per head per annum, do not our working people who want to be a beach-user instead of a hawker on their day-off deserve some consideration too? In fact, it is also not impossible to con- template that some people might be quite happy to choose and pay a small fee to offset part of the cost for a certain section of
beach, provided the improvement was real and the cost was reasonable.
If we go past places like Deep Water Bay and Repulse Bay on a summer Saturday night, one might get the wrong impression that the mid-Autumn Lantern Festival was on-in fact it is groups of young people barbequeing or staying out till the early hours of the morning or even overnight on beaches. Last summer, the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee ex- perimented with the Auxilliary Litter Warden Scheme, and one of the feed- backs was that it was morale destroying to arrive on duty on Sunday morning to see a whole beach littered with filth caused by Saturday night beach-goers. It is unfortunate that despite numerous campaigns to keep our beaches and Hong Kong clean, there are still plenty of people who have not appreciated the message. My reference to the above situation is not to advocate curtailing the use of beaches at night, but on the contrary to suggest encouraging more use of them at these off-peak hours, but at the same time with more control and enforcement.
Firstly, we must realistically recognize the demand for certain beach facili- ties at night and therefore ensure that our staffing in terms of litter warden
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
189
enforcement is adequate to cater for such a demand. It is no use leaving the mess till the morning because although it can be cleared the next day, the opportunity of educating people through enforcement will have been missed
--and these are
Clean education.
probably the people most in need of such Keep Hong Kong
Secondly, I hope we can review the regulations regarding camping on beaches. Camping as a recreational activity has really taken off in the last few years, and it is not uncommon to see factory workers going out in groups after dinner on Saturday night first by coach and then Kaidos to remote areas in the New Territories to camp. And yet, our Urban area beaches are so close, so accessible but camping officially is not allowed. I can understand the inconvenience to the public if tents are pitched during the daytime on a crowded beach, or the undesireability of having people staying on a beach overnight sleeping on old newspapers or plastic sheets and then leaving them there in the morning. Modern camping equipment, including outdoor cooking equipment nowadays is not only fairly sophisticated and hygienic, but also within reasonable reach of the working public. Further- more, most of our beaches by now also have adequate sanitary facilities and sufficient litter disposal receptacles. Is there any longer a real reason that we should not, say, designate certain areas of some beaches where camping is not only allowed after and before certain hours, but also encouraged, and staffed up to ensure environmental hygiene? I believe we would be meeting a public demand if we did so, and by proper enforcement and guidance, we would be getting the Keep the Beach and Hong Kong Clean education across to the right people.
Mr. Chairman, I will now continue my speech in Cantonesc.
(in Cantonese)
Housing
During last year's annual debate, when speaking on matters outside the jurisdiction of this Council, I expressed concern at the way speculators were making more difficult for genuine home buyers to purchase their own flat. One year later, the price of flats has risen even higher, although recent Government announcements on rent control, late as they may have come, could well have the welcome effect of dampening down speculation in flats. It would be unthinkable to allow speculation and control of a daily necessity such as water, and the Government has rules to prevent the control by speculators over rice, although it is probably out of date nowadays to regard this as an unduly essential commodity. I regard housing just as important to the common man as food and water, so I think there is good enough reason not to allow flat speculation to go on unabated. If people wish to speculate in stocks and shares, or bullion, or the year of The Monkey Gold Coins, then fair enough because all of these are not basic essentials of life, but we must not treat one's own home in the same category. Last year, I hoped that
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