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The transparency of the town planning system will be greatly enhanced with the implementation of the Town Planning (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 on Friday (June 10).
At a press briefing today (June 8) to announce the start of the Amendment Ordinance, Director of Planning, Mr Bosco Fung, said it would mean a more transparent planning system and more opportunities for public participation in the town planning process.
"We hope the community will endorse our work and actively take part in the town planning process," he said.
The Town Planning (Amendment) Ordinance, passed by the Legislative Council (Legco) in July, 2004, aims to enhance the transparency of the planning system, streamline the town planning process, and strengthen planning enforcement control over unauthorised developments in the rural New Territories.
To facilitate the implementation of the Amendment Ordinance, the Town Planning Board has promulgated eight sets of Town Planning Board Guidelines on the new procedures and requirements.
"The guidelines will help the public and the practitioners to better understand the new planning system, and their rights and responsibilities under the new system. For example, the guidelines spell out how the applicants should fulfil the new requirements of obtaining the consent of or notifying the land owners," Mr Fung said.
The measures that the board will adopt to publish planning applications for public comment are detailed in the guidelines. The important points to note when making representations on draft plans and comments on representations by the public are also covered.
To streamline the planning approval process, the Amendment Ordinance empowers the board to promulgate, by notice in Gazette, those specified minor amendments to approved development proposals that are exempted from further application (i.e. the "Class A" amendments) and those minor amendments that would be processed under streamlined procedures (i.e. the "Class B" amendments). Applications for "Class B" amendments will be exempted from the requirements of notifying the owners or obtaining their consent as well as publication for public comments.
"Major stakeholders had been consulted on the guidelines from September to December last year. Fourteen briefings to various stakeholders and one public consultation forum were held and 26 written submissions were received. The Legco Panel on Planning, Lands and Works was briefed on the outcome of the consultation and the guidelines in March and April this year. The guidelines have been amended to take into account the views of the public and the Legco," Mr Fung said.
Upon the commencement of the Amendment Ordinance, meetings of the board will be open, except for the deliberation parts and confidential items as stated in the law. People can observe the proceedings in a public viewing room located on 15/F of the North Point Government Offices.
"The law requires planning applications received before the commencement of the Amendment Ordinance to be processed under the pre-amended provisions. In the early period after the Amendment Ordinance comes into operation, the board will not open up the parts of its meeting for considering these cases. As the meeting agenda of June 10 only covers planning applications received before the commencement of the Amendment Ordinance and proposed amendments to draft plans gazetted before the commencement date, there will not be an open meeting this coming Friday. The board will, for the first time, open up those parts of its meeting for discussing general planning matters on Friday, June 17," Mr Fung said.
To enhance its transparency, the board has agreed to make available discussion papers (other than the confidential items) for public inspection before its meetings. The minutes of meetings will also be released. A new Planning Enquiry Counter in the Sha Tin Government Offices, in addition to the existing one in the North Point Government Offices, has been set up to facilitate the public to inspect all planning documents that will be released. People can inspect planning applications, representations on draft plans as well as comments on representations at these two counters.
The Amendment Ordinance will also strengthen the enforcement control to protect the rural environment. Under the Amendment Ordinance, the only means for recipients of enforcement notices to comply with the notices is to discontinue the unauthorised development. They can no longer delay the prosecution action by claiming that they have submitted a planning application.
"The main objective of the legislative amendment is to encourage the operators to run their business at authorised sites or to obtain planning permission prior to running their business," Mr Fung said.
He added that the administration would continue to identify more suitable sites for open storage, car-parking uses, etc. to facilitate the development of the logistics industries.
The Schedule of "Class A" and "Class B" amendments, the eight sets of Guidelines, and the new application forms together with the Guidance Notes are available at the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board on 15/F, North Point Government Offices, 333 Java Road, North Point (Tel: 2231 4810 or 2231 4835); and the Planning Enquiry Counters of the Planning Department (Hotline: 2231 5000) on 17/F, North Point Government Offices and 14/F, Sha Tin Government Offices, 1 Sheung Wo Che Road, Sha Tin. They can also be downloaded from the Board's website (http://www.info.gov.hk/tpb).
Ends/Wednesday, June 8, 2005
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