In his latest written inquiry, lawmaker Ron Lam questioned the criteria used by the Urban Planning Committee (CPU) in passing the controversial planning draft for the development at the former cotton mills in Taipa.
Last week, amid debates from both members of the public and within the committee itself, the government – represented by CPU president and director of the Land and Urban Construction Bureau (DSSCU) Lai Weng Leong – decided to issue a green light to the project.
The project will feature a set of buildings reaching a maximum height of 90 meters off from the southwestern tip of the Nova Grand residential estate. The DSSCU also permitted 100% use of the land.
The planning draft for the four plots of land, numbered BT7, BT8, BT9 and BT9a, has garnered an overwhelming 462 opinions, the majority of which are against the development. Most of the submissions called for more leisure and community spaces.
Although Lai assured the public that land will be reserved for future leisure and community spaces, Lam was not convinced. Similar to Lai’s approach, who had resorted to the Master Urban Plan to justify the government’s approval, Lam also cited the Plan to state that only the Flower City Garden and the Taipa Central Park would remain the same. He added that without any additional land reservations for greenery expressly stipulated in the Master Plan, the public’s concerns over the planned development was justified.
Lam then referred to the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines to suggest that Taipa should have more leisure and community spaces. Pursuant to the Hong Kong document, each person residing in the urban areas in Hong Kong should be allotted 1 square meter of land for leisure purposes. He then calculated that each person residing in Taipa only has 0.39 square meters of such land.
The lawmaker also pointed out that although the ratio of green spaces to population is better than in Hong Kong, the reality was that green spaces were unevenly distributed here. Older districts, such as San Kio, Inner Harbor and Patane, have green spaces that are compressed and limited.
Apart from calling for clearer CPU planning draft criteria, Lam also asked the government to adopt the Singaporean style of releasing plots of vacant land that has been levelled and revegetated for public use.
He also called on the government to clarify standards for leisure space per person to govern future developments.
