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regulations which need to be met before the issuing of licences to assist these applicants and expedite the application.
MR. C. K. CHAN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, out of these 207 applications, how many summons have you issued during that period of application?
MISS TAM (in Cantonese):—I don't have information to answer Mr. CHAN'S question. If necessary, I will obtain the necessary information from the Urban Services Department to give an answer to Mr. CHAN.
MR. YOUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, it appears that out of the 73 applications which were initially unsuccessful, 48 of them or more than 65% of them were because of incompatibility with lease conditions, something which I would imagine neither jeopardizes the safety nor the health of workers who want to use the canteens. With the relaxation of these conditions, some of these are being re-processed but this is only 25 out of the 48 which were rejected. May I ask, whether the Council will ensure that everything will be done to either get government to relax the conditions further, or if that is not necessary, then to encourage the remaining ones that are not being re-processed to come forward and try and gain recognition?
MISS TAM (in English):—As far as the lease conditions are concerned, that is very much within the province of the Principal Government Land Agent. The main objections are:
(a) that if the premises are at or near the ground floor level and if it has exclusive direct access to the street for emergency use, it would be infringing the requirements,
(b) if an area set aside under lease conditions for access or parking, or loading or unloading of vehicles is being used by the applicant, or
(c) if it is acquired from a private treaty grant for special purpose and not for that of a factory canteen, or
(d) if it exceeds the area 10% of the total gross floor area of the factory premises on the lot. In respect of those who were salvaged, so to speak, during the re-process, I would imagine, and I think this is the situation, that where any of the conditions being infringed is being altered to the satisfaction of the Government Land Agent, the application would be successful.
As to the percentage which apparently worries Mr. YOUNG, I think it probably depends on the individual case. Some defects could be remedied, some could not. As far as the Urban Services Department and the Council are concerned, whichever one we can salvage, I think the licence will be offered.
MRS. GRACE HO (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I wonder if the Chairman of the Food Hygiene Select Committee could advise us, because of the interest raised on this question, whether we can have the statistics in the HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL monthly report, so that we can keep track of the number of applications received and the numbers refused, thank you?
MISS TAM (in English):—I thank Mrs. Ho for her suggestion. I will bring this to the attention of those preparing the report.
MR. C. S. SHUM (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, right now there are 207 applications, 110 of which are still being processed. Now, these 110 have not been granted a licence, is it because of the shortage of staff in the Urban Council or is it because of the shortage in other government departments?
MISS TAM (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, if we have found out the reasons for their being unsuccessful or successful applications, then we must have completed the investigation, and after the investigation, we have found that they have not met the requirements of the Urban Council or with those of other government departments, so they have remained unsuccessful. As to whether this delay is due to a shortage of staff, I really don't know the answer. Because right now, these 110 are all 110 different cases, and if Mr. SHUM wishes to have the information, I would seek further explanation as to the reasons.
DR. PHILIP C. K. KWOK (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I know that for factory canteens, there are now new regulations, but would you look into other canteens, say, in the commercial area, because these canteens are also very popular; would the committee look into this matter?
MISS TAM (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Dr. KWOK for the suggestion. Firstly, the question that we are concerned with now is about factory canteens, but of course, office workers would also have to have their meals and the problems must be solved, and this also falls within the jurisdiction of the Food Hygiene Select Committee. In our future meetings, when we have time, we will certainly bring the matter up to explore whether it is feasible.
MOTION
1. MR. LAWRENCE H. L. FUNG, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE CULTURE AND ENTERTAINMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, moved the following motion:
'It is resolved that the Space Museum Lecture Hall be designated as a civic centre in accordance with Section 105M of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, Cap. 132.'
He said (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I rise to move the motion standing in my name:—
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
regulations which need to be met before the issuing of licences to assist these applicants and expedite the application.
MR. C. K. CHAN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, out of these 207 applica- tions, how many summons have you issued during that period of applica- tion?
MISS TAM (in Cantonese):—I don't have information to answer Mr. CHAN'S question. If necessary, I will obtain the necessary information from the Urban Services Department to give an answer to Mr. CHAN.
MR. YOUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, it appears that out of the 73 applications which were initially unsuccessful, 48 of them or more than 65% of them were because of incompatibility with lease conditions, something which I would imagine neither jeopardizes the safety nor the health of workers who want to use the canteens. With the relaxation of these condi- tions, some of these are being re-processed but this is only 25 out of the 48 which were rejected. May I ask, whether the Council will ensure that everything will be done to either get government to relax the conditions further, or if that is not necessary, then to encourage the remaining ones that are not being re-processed to come forward and try and gain recognition?
MISS TAM (in English):-As far as the lease conditions is concerned that is very much within the province of the Principal Government Land Agent. The main objections are:-
(a) that if the premises are at or near the ground floor level and if it has exclusive direct access to the street for emergency use, it would be infringing the requirements,
(b) if an area set aside under lease conditions for access or parking, or
loading or unloading of vehicles is being used by the applicant, or (c) if it is acquired from a private treaty grant for special purpose and not
for that of a factory canteen, or
(d) if it exceeds the area 10% of the total gross floor area of the factory premises on the lot. In respect of those who were salvaged, so to speak, during the re-process, I would imagine, and I think this is the situation, that where any of the conditions being infringed is being altered to the satisfaction of the Government Land Agent, the application would be successful.
As to the percentage which apparently worries Mr. YOUNG, I think it probably depends on the individual case. Some defects could be remedied, some could not. As far as the Urban Services Department and the Council is concerned whichever one we can salvage, I think the licence will be offered.
MRS. GRACE Ho (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I wonder if the Chairman of the Food Hygiene Select Committee could advise us, because of the interest raise on this question, whether we can have the statistics in the
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
monthly report, so that we can keep track of the number of applications received and the numbers refused, thank you?
MISS TAM (in English):--I thank Mrs. Ho for her suggestion. I will bring this to the attention of those preparing the report.
MR. C. S. SHUM (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, right now there are 207 applications, 110 of which are still being processed. Now, these 110 have not been granted licence, is it because of the shortage of staff in the Urban Council or is it because of the shortage in other government departments?
MISS TAM (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, if we have found out the reasons for their being unsuccessful or successful applications, then we must have completed the investigation, and after the investigation we have found that they have not met with the requirements of the Urban Council or with those of other government departments, so they have remained unsuccessful. As to whether this delay is due to shortage of staff, I really don't know the answer. Because right now, these 110 are all 110 different cases, and if Mr. SHUM wishes to have the information, I would seek further explanation as to the
reasons.
DR. PHILIP C. K. Kwok (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I know that for factory canteens, there are now new regulations, but would you look into other canteens, say, in the commercial area, because these canteens are also very popular; would the committee look into this matter?
MISS TAM (in Cantonese): --Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Dr. KwOK for the suggestion. Firstly, the question that we are concerned with now is about factory canteens, but of course office workers would also have to have their meals and the problems must be solved, and this also falls within the jurisdiction of the Food Hygiene Select Committee. In our future meetings, when we have time we will certainly bring the matter up to explore whether it is feasible.
MOTION
1. MR. LAWRENCE H. L. FUNG, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE CULTURE AND ENTERTAINMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, moved the following motion:
'It is resolved that the Space Museum Lecture Hall be designated as a civic centre in accordance with Section 105M of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, Cap. 132.'
He said (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I rise to move the motion standing in my name:--
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