Hong Kong News Hub: Hong Kong gov’t board maintains zoning change in public housing plan at Fanling golf course

A Hong Kong government board has stood by its decision to temporarily rezone part of the Fanling Golf Course from residential use to “undetermined” ahead of a controversial public housing plan that is set to be challenged in court next May.

Listing a 9.5-hectare site at the golf course as “undetermined” was appropriate to allow for a transitional arrangement for the land intended for the construction of 12,000 public housing units, the Town Planning Board said in a statement on Friday following a closed-door meeting.

The Fanling golf course. Photo: Hong Kong Golf Club, via Facebook.

According to a paper filed to the board earlier this month, the rezoning aimed to serve as a “stopgap arrangement” to give the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) and other relevant departments a buffer period to review the appropriate layout and development parameters of the 9.5-hecatre site.

The area was part of 32 hectares of land returned to the government last month after its lease to the Hong Kong Golf Club expired. The remaining area was allocated for conservation and recreation.

The board said on Friday that it had considered 1,903 statements and oral submissions from around 60 attendees during the three-day hearing, as well as views of the Planning Department and other relevant government departments in upholding the rezoning decision.

“It allows the CEDD to conduct the review with flexibility to cater for possible outcomes of the [judicial review], while providing appropriate planning control on the Site during the interim period,” an English language statement from the board read.

The golf club launched a legal bid in July to challenge the government’s approval of an environmental report on the impact of the housing plan. It argued that there was a lack of public consultation and a failure to account for ecological concerns.

Supporters of the club also criticised the public housing development plan and said the course was a world-class facility that should be preserved.

The court later granted suspension of the approved report pending a verdict of the judicial review which will be heard in May next year. A judge cited a risk of “irreversible” environmental damage and the course’s “important cultural heritage.”

Judicial reviews are considered by the Court of First Instance and examine the decision-making processes of administrative bodies. Issues under review must be shown to affect the wider public interest.

Earlier this month, the board said more than 98 per cent of the submissions received were against the public housing plan.

The long-term use of the 9.5-hectare site would only be confirmed after the CEDD completed its review and when the judicial review proceedings completed, the board said. It added all uses or development within the “undetermined” zone would require its planning permission, with exceptions to public works coordinated by the government or some “compatible” recreational uses.

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