1985 — Page 59

Page 59 of 195

Page 59 of 195

89

88

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

MR. HOWARD H. W. YOUNG, Chairman OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): The first and second parts of the question concerns the operating hours for lighting in Urban Council parks and the third part the responsibility of the staff to ensure that the lights function properly.

There are two distinct types of lighting in Urban Council parks and pleasure grounds, that is park lights and floodlights. It is Council's policy to provide sufficient illumination for public safety and for the general lighting of pathways within parks to be provided, normally between the hours of 7 p.m. and 5.30 a.m. in summer (May to October) and 6 p.m. and 6.30 a.m. in winter (November to April). The lights are mostly switched on automatically, but the operational staff are able to adjust the hours by half an hour either way should the need

arise.

Floodlighting is provided to maximise the use of Council's sports facilities for example tennis courts, basketball, football and mini-soccer pitches. Such lighting is manually controlled and is generally provided in summer between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. and in winter from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. The staff are required to use their discretion and to turn off the lights when the grounds are not in use.

Turning to the third part of the question, the staff are tasked to regularly inspect and to ensure that the lights are functioning properly. Any defects are reported to the Government Maintenance Surveyor and, in the event of disruption in the power supply, to the Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services. Depending on the nature of the fault and the location of the venue, it normally takes only a short time to effect repairs.

MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I have a question for Mr. Young: are the parks open 24 hours a day and if we have a fault with the lights, will the staff really be able to repair the lights immediately? I have some doubts about this because I have heard a lot of complaints from residents who are not satisfied with the illumination services in the soccer pitches because usually they are only providing 6 lights for these sports grounds.

MR. HOWARD YOUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, for floodlights, we are not providing floodlighting 24 hours a day, they are only available up to 11 p.m. But for the park lights, if we still let people in then we will only switch off the lights the morning after. Of course if the lights are switched off in the evening, that will mean that we may not have staff stationed in the parks at that time. If we have staff in the parks and if the staff discover that there are defects, they would certainly report to the Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services.

MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I think Mr. Young has misunderstood my question. What I meant was do you open the parks to the public

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

24 hours a day and the thing is I am not concerned about the lights going out of order between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., but what about the lights going out of order within the operational hours?

MR. HOWARD YOUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, usually if the lights have defects during the evening, the staff will only report to the concerned authority the morning after. For normal defects, they will just inform the Government Maintenance Surveyor, but in the event of the disruption of power supply, they will report to the Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services.

MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. YOUNG, I would like to inform you that for the basketball court in Mong Kok, they only have 3 lights on although they have 6 lights altogether, and that the same situation has lasted 2 years.

MR. HOWARD YOUNG (in Cantonese):-Thank you, Miss YEUNG, for your observation, I am sure the department's staff after listening to this piece of complaint will deal with it immediately, but I do not really think you have to wait until a public meeting to raise this matter.

MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I have not yet heard Mr. YOUNG reply to me whether the parks are opened throughout the night?

MR. HOWARD YOUNG (in Cantonese):-As to whether the parks are opened to the public, there are various arrangements for the parks in Hong Kong, for example, the Kowloon Chai Park is not open to the public at all hours, but there are many small parks by the roadside where there are no restrictions on usage and hours of opening. But regardless of whether the parks are open throughout the night, the park lights are kept on until the next morning.

MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, if you so direct, I would not pursue further the first question, but if the parks are closed, then why are the lights switched on? There are a lot of lights installed in the parks and we are really wasting electricity in that case.

CHAIRMAN (in English):-Miss YEUNG, supplementaries are supposed to be directed to the original question and not used as a pretext to make a statement. Would you mind directing your attention to question No. 2 standing in your name?

2. Miss Cecilia L. Y. YEUNG asked the following question (in Cantonese):- Are there toy libraries obtained in all the Urban Council Libraries, especially any libraries located at lower class level, provided for the children?

MR. LAM CHAK-PIU, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE LIBRARIES SELECT Committee, replied as follows (in Cantonese):---This question concerns the provision of toy libraries in the Council's libraries.