ENG-2017 — Page 254

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Planning, Land and Infrastructure

Development Framework

Planning Control and Enforcement

The Planning Authority has enforcement powers under the Town Planning Ordinance to tackle unauthorised developments (UDS) in development permission areas. It may serve statutory notices on landowners, occupiers or other responsible persons requiring them to stop or discontinue a UD within a specified time. A further statutory notice may be served to require the site to be reinstated. Non-compliance is a statutory offence.

In 2017, the Planning Authority discovered 428 new UDs, including unauthorised open storage, workshops, car parks and land or pond fillings, and issued 3,361 warning letters or reminders involving 613 cases, 2,393 enforcement notices involving 378 cases, 590 reinstatement notices involving 108 cases and 2,395 compliance notices involving 381 cases. A total of 149 defendants in 52 cases were convicted. The enforcement and prosecution actions resulted in the discontinuation of 381 UDs on 90 hectares of land. Another 22 UDS occupying 2 hectares of land were regularised through the planning application system.

Land Control and Lease Enforcement

The Lands Department carries out squatter control work. There are about 385,800 surveyed squatter structures throughout the territory. These structures are tolerated until they cease to exist or are to be cleared for development, environmental improvement or safety reasons. The department demolished 235 illegal structures and extensions in 2017, in addition to unauthorised structures cleared in the context of land control and lease enforcement.

The department handied about 18,200 cases of reported unlawful occupation of government land, of which about 11,600 cases required site clearance, including clearance by the occupiers in response to the department's enforcement actions. It handled about 2,000 cases involving breaches of lease conditions.

The department keeps a register of registered man-made slopes that records maintenance. responsibility. It also inspects and maintains about 20,000 registered man-made slopes regularly, implementing maintenance works on about 7,000 of them in 2017.

During the year, the department's Tree Unit provided in-house advice about tree and landscape issues on leased land and unmanaged government land in about 3,120 cases. The Land and Vegetation Contract Management Section of the department conducted ad hoc vegetation maintenance work in about 18,000 cases.

Small House Policy Administration

The Lands Department administers the small house policy for indigenous villagers in the New Territories and approves the rebuilding of old village houses. In 2017, it approved 818 applications to build small houses and 330 applications to rebuild old village houses. The department processes rent exemption requisitions for indigenous villagers' rural properties according to exemption criteria listed in the Government Rent (Assessment and Collection) Ordinance.

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