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Following is a question by the Hon Patrick Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (March 7):
Question:
Given the recent complaints lodged by a number of residents about the nuisance caused by the fibre-optic external walls of a newly completed residential development, and there is no legislation controlling the various types of light pollution (such as light trespass and glare, etc), will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints about light pollution received by government departments in each of the past five years, broken down by sources of pollution (such as advertisement signboards, street lamps and vessels, etc); and
(b) whether it plans to review and amend the relevant legislation to subject light pollution to statutory control; if so, of the details of such plans; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Government does not have overall statistics on complaints about light pollution received by relevant departments. Based on available information, the Environmental Protection Department received the following complaints on light nuisance in the past 5 years:
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
**** **** **** **** ****
Advertisement 0 2 3 15 15
Light Boxes
(ALBs)
Spot Light 0 6 9 15 15
Others 0 1 1 3 5
(b) Light nuisance that may result from ALBs on the external face of buildings for the purpose of advertisement is not subject to control under the existing environmental legislations. However, these facilities are subject to control by various Government departments including the Buildings Department, the Fire Services Department, the Marine Department, the Hong Kong Police Force, the Civil Aviation Department and the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department. The Government has to ensure that these facilities are structurally safe; will not become a serious risk of fire; will not interfere with road, marine and aviation traffic; will not disfigure the natural beauty of any scenery or affect injuriously the amenities of any locality. However, the light intensity of these facilities and whether they cause nuisance to nearby residents falls outside the current scope of control. The Government does not have any plan to broaden the existing legislative control to cover this area.
Ends/Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:35
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