A developer’s plans for 41 houses in Uk Tau and Ko Tong will be opposed by Charles Mok, Chairman of Professional Commons, at the Town Planning Board meeting in June.
Dr Robin Bradbeer, secretary of the PC, said the developer is manoeuvring for “a pre-emptive strike getting the village boundaries extended.”
Meanwhile, a separate investigation by Designing Hong Kong has found that a former Government Chief Architect, Paul Yiu Yuen On, is behind the proposed developments. He is a director of Hanton Ltd and New Faith International Holdings Management Ltd along with Terry Hung Shin Yin. These two companies bought many of the sites for around $2 million each several years ago, Designing Hong Kong said.
New outline zoning plans are in process for Uk Tau and Ko Tong, nearby villages in the same valley. Applications have been filed for 29 houses at Uk Tau and 12 at Ko Tong. Professional Commons, a group of activist academics, believes that applications are all by Messrs Yiu and Hung and their backers, Robin said.
The locations of the 41 proposed houses are outside the currently permitted building areas.”They are in what is designated a development protection area,” she said.
Professional Commons, sometimes called the party that is not a party, is campaigning for green belts, coastal protection areas and development protection areas to be included in country parks where no development at all is allowed. “They give wriggle room to developers.”
Robin said there should be “no more higgledy-piggledy development” of NT villages. The same standards with regard to sewage, parking and accessibility should be required as in the urban areas.
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