ENG-1990 — Page 247

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

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policy directives from PELB. Since its formation, the department has taken over the full responsibility for planning previously shared by the Territory Development Department, the then Town Planning Office and the then Strategic Planning Unit. The new arrangement is intended to achieve greater integration of all planning functions and activities.

The department comprises three functional units, the Ordinance Review and Technical Administration Division, the Territorial and Sub-Regional Planning Branch and the Dis- trict Planning Branch. The planning work is diverse, complex and interrelated. It covers primarily the following:

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Review of the Town Planning Ordinance, the Territorial Development Strategy, the non-metropolitan Development Strategies and the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines;

Follow-up work on the Metroplan, the Rural Planning and Improvement Strategy, the Study of the Use of Underground Space, and the Port and Airport Development Strategy;

- Planning Studies likely to involve consultancy management including the secondment

of multi-disciplinary professionals;

Urban renewal, forward planning for the districts and development control.

Review of Town Planning Ordinance

The Town Planning Ordinance was enacted in 1939. Except for a few minor and piecemeal amendments in the past twenty years, there has been virtually no change in Hong Kong's town planning legislation. The ordinance is now considered to be inadequate in providing the necessary degree of guidance and control for planning and development in Hong Kong. As directed by the Executive Council, a comprehensive review of the Town Planning Ordinance began in September 1987. An Advisory Group set up in 1988 spent a year studying the problems in the planning system and the inadequacies of the ordinance in coping with the problems. The recommendations formulated by the group are under study by the Planning, Environment and Lands Branch. A consultative document will be published early in 1991 to seek public views on the provisions of the new legislation.

Meanwhile, interim amendments to the ordinance are introduced to tackle problems which have been identified by government as urgent and requiring immediate action. In July 1990, the Executive Council approved the introduction of the Town Planning (Amendment) Bill 1990 into the Legislative Council. The bill proposes, inter alia, to extend the jurisdiction of the ordinance to cover the whole territory and to provide means for enforcement against unauthorised development. After public consultation, the bill was introduced into the Legislative Council in November 1990.

Metroplan

The Metroplan Study aims to provide a planning framework for comprehensive re- structuring of urban areas around Victoria Harbour over the long term to create a more acceptable urban environment. Redevelopment sites, reclamation and the terracing of hill slopes are intended as 'solution spaces' for the formulation of alternative Metro- plan options. This study has reached an advanced stage involving the production of a Landscape Strategy for the Urban Fringe and Coastal Areas as a guide for landscape conservation and enhancement. Also, a digest of Metroplan initial options has been produced for public consultation. Apart from useful submissions mainly from professional