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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(a) Should the Town Planning Board proposal be implemented, how many trees which form the remaining green areas will be affected and how many of them are capable of being transplanted?
(b) This Council has exhausted its statutory rights of objection to this plan under the Town Planning Ordinance. Should our objections prove to be ignored in future, would it be possible, for instance, that places such as Victoria Park in urban areas be re-zoned and surrounded by shops? Can we prevent such things happening?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-This question concerns Kowloon Park.
The overall plan for the Park is to provide both active and passive recreational facilities, having regard to the topography and natural vegetation of the site. Briefly, the north-east part bounded by Austin Road and Nathan Road will be developed into an active games area consisting of a soccer pitch and basketball/volleyball courts. A covered swimming pool and an indoor games hall-cum-administration block will also be built in the northern part of the park. The north-west part which overlooks Kowloon Park Drive will be developed into a fitness area with a fitness trail. The existing Chinese Garden and the aviary at the centre of the park will be retained, as the focus for overall development. Further south, development will be mainly for passive recreation, with a Western Garden on the Nathan Road side and a traditional garden on the Kowloon Park Drive side. A large children's playground will be built between these two gardens. The strip of land on the southernmost part of the park fronting Haiphong Road will be used as a sitting-out area. A plant nursery will be built at the south-west corner where Haiphong Road and Kowloon Park Drive meet.
The overall development proposal for the park was approved by the Urban Council in November 1981 and it is intended that development should take place by stages, beginning in early 1983. The first stage includes the building of the active games area and the Chinese Garden extension.
Various areas in the park have in fact been developed, in accordance with the overall scheme. These include a Chinese Garden, an aviary, a rose garden, a mini-soccer pitch, 3 basketball courts, a jogging track and a rest garden. Development of the other areas has not been possible before for a number of reasons. These include the need to retain a number of buildings in the park for other temporary uses including the conversion of two buildings for a temporary Museum of History, and delays resulting from changes in the original plans such as the reduction in scope of the swimming pool project, a proposal to site the permanent Museum of History in the southern part of the park and a Government proposal to build an underground car park on the north-east corner and to incorporate a row of shops occupying an area of about 5,410 m2 along the side of the park fronting Nathan Road.
As regards the number of trees affected by the Government's proposal to turn the strip of land fronting Nathan Road into shops, a preliminary survey conducted by the Department in April 1981 indicated that 307 trees will be affected. Of these, only 39 are suitable for transplanting. Some of the trees to be lost are quite sizable, up to 10 metres high. Because of the possibility of these shops, this frontage has for the past 5 years not been landscaped and therefore remains in a somewhat unkempt state.
As regards the possibility of sites in other Urban Council parks such as Victoria Park being turned into shops, I can assure Members that the strongest representations would be made to the Town Planning Board if such a proposal were to be put forward. So far, no such proposals have been suggested for Victoria Park or any other major park and playground.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, could I ask Mr. LO, firstly, as he had lived in England for a number of years, whether he had ever heard of any parks in England being converted to shops by the Government? Say for instance, Hyde Park; is part of Hyde Park being converted to shops spaces as proposed by the Hong Kong Government? Secondly, can Mr. LO inform me, since he has been doing recreation work for us for so long, in Hong Kong and Kowloon which roads do we have, could hold trees as high as 10 m?
MR. LO (in English):-Mr. Chairman, Dr. HUANG has mentioned, whether there is any such case in England, as far as I know, I know of none. For instance, he mentioned Hyde Park, certainly it is a very big park with a lot of valuable frontage, I know of no proposals to build any shops along the side or in front of Hyde Park. As regards the second supplementary question put by Dr. HUANG, certainly I know of no similar large piece of land in the urban area with a strip of green and so on, like the Kowloon Park fronting Nathan Road.
DR. Kwok (in English):-Mr. Chairman, it is not very difficult to estimate that the revenue from this land sales will be a very small fraction of the percentage of the total revenue from recent land sales, so I am asking is this exercise which causes the loss of so many trees and open space, really justifiable from a community standpoint?
MR. Lo (in English):-In my view, it is not justifiable.
THE HON. SELINA CHOW (in English):-Mr. Chairman, may I ask through you, I believe that there are strong feelings within the Council against the shops fronting the parks. Has this sentiment been officially represented to the Government and if so what has the Government given as the reasons for deciding to proceed with the building of these shops?
MR. Lo (in English):-Mr. Chairman, the present Vice-Chairman and I represented the Council before the Town Planning Board and made very strong objections to this proposal, but, however, the Government decided to go ahead. As for the reasons, I don't think we've been given any, officially.
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206
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(a) Should the Town Planning Board proposal be implemented, how many trees which form the remaining green areas will be affected and how many of them are capable of being transplanted?
(b) This Council has exhausted its statutory rights of objection to this plan under the Town Planning Ordinance. Should our objections prove to be ignored in future, would it be possible, for instance, that places such as Victoria Park in urban areas be re-zoned and surrounded by shops? Can we prevent such things happening?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT Committee, replied as follows (in English):-This question concerns Kowloon Park.
The overall plan for the Park is to provide both active and passive recreational facilities, having regard to the topography and natural vegetation of the site. Briefly, the north-east part bounded by Austin Road and Nathan Road will be developed into an active games area consisting of a soccer pitch and basketball/volleyball courts. A covered swimming pool and an indoor games hall-cum-administration block will also be built in the northern part of the park. The north-west part which overlooks Kowloon Park Drive will be developed into a fitness area with a fitness trail. The existing Chinese Garden and the aviary at the centre of the park will be retained, as the focus for overall development. Further south, development will be mainly for passive recreation, with a Western Garden on the Nathan Road side and a traditional garden on the Kowloon Park Drive side. A large children's playground will be built between these two gardens. The strip of land on the southernmost part of the park fronting Haiphong Road will be used as a sitting-out area. A plant nursery will be built at the south-west corner where Haiphong Road and Kowloon Park Drive meet.
The overall development proposal for the park was approved by the Urban Council in November 1981 and it is intended that development should take place by stages, beginning in early 1983. The first stage includes the building of the active games area and the Chinese Garden extension.
Various areas in the park have in fact been developed, in accordance with the overall scheme. These include a Chinese Garden, an aviary, a rose garden, a mini- soccer pitch, 3 basketball courts, a jogging track and a rest garden. Development of the other areas has not been possible before for a number of reasons. These include the need to retain a number of buildings in the park for other temporary uses including the conversion of two buildings for a temporary Museum of History, and delays resulting from changes in the original plans such as the reduction in scope of the swimming pool project, a proposal to site the permanent Museum of History in the southern part of the park and a Government proposal to build an underground car park on the north-east corner and to incorporate a row of shops occupying an area of about 5 410 m2 along the side of the park fronting Nathan Road.
As regards the number of trees affected by the Government's proposal to turn the strip of land fronting Nathan Road into shops, a preliminary survey
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 125,0f 146
conducted by the Department in April 1981 indicated that 307 trees will be affected. Of these, only 39 are suitable for transplanting. Some of the trees to be lost are quite sizable, up to 10 metres high. Because of the possibility of these shops, this frontage has for the past 5 years not been landscaped and therefore remains in a somewhat unkempt state.
As regards the possibility of sites in other Urban Council parks such as Victoria Park being turned into shops, I can assure Members that the strongest representations would be made to the Town Planning Board if such a proposal were to be put forward. So far, no such proposals have been suggested for Victoria Park or any other major park and playground.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, could I ask Mr. LO, firstly, as he had lived in England for a number of years, whether he had ever heard of any parks in England being converted to shops by the Government? Say for instance, Hyde Park; is part of Hyde Park being converted to shops spaces as proposal by the Hong Kong Government? Secondly, can Mr. LO inform me, since he has been doing recreation work for us for so long, in Hong Kong and Kowloon which roads do we have, could hold trees as high as 10 m?
MR. LO (in English):-Mr. Chairman, Dr. HUANG has mentioned, whether there is any such case in England, as far as I know, I know of none. For instance, he mentioned Hyde Park, certainly it is a very big park with a lot of valuable frontage, I know of no proposals to build any shops along the side or in front of Hyde Park. As regard to the second supplementary question put by Dr. HUANG, certainly I know of no similar large piece of land in the urban area with a strip of green and so on, like the Kowloon Park fronting Nathan Road.
DR. Kwok (in English):-Mr. Chairman, it is not very difficult to estimate that the revenue from this land sales will be a very small fraction of the percentage of the total revenue from recent land sales, so I am asking is this exercise which causes the loss of so many trees and open space, really justifiable from a community stand point?
MR. Lo (in English):-In my view, it is not justifiable.
THE HON. SELINA CHOW (in English):-Mr. Chairman, may I ask through you, I believe that there are strong feelings within the Council against the shops fronting the parks. Has this sentiment been officially represented to the Government and if so what has the Government given as the reasons for deciding to proceed with the building of these shops?
MR. Lo (in English):-Mr. Chairman, the present Vice-Chairman and I represented the Council before the Town Planning Board and made very strong objections to this proposal, but, however, the Government decided to go ahead. As for the reasons, I don't think we've been given any, officially.
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