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Following is a question by the Hon James To and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (June 18):
Question:
On the reduction of light pollution, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) as the Government advised in its reply to my question on 28th of last month that over the past three years, there were a total of 48 complaints about the nuisance caused by lights from government facilities other than pitches/courts managed by government departments, street lamps and car parks inside public housing estates (PHEs), of a breakdown of such complaints by the receiving departments, the location and type of facilities involved in each complaint, and the remedial measures taken by the Government for each complaint;
(b) as the Housing Authority has drawn up guidelines to ensure that the public will not be affected by outdoor lighting facilities of PHEs, when these guidelines were promulgated; whether any PHE fails to comply with these guidelines at present; if so, whether the Government has any plan to conduct a comprehensive review on street lamps and other luminous devices in various PHEs, and to take remedial measures to reduce light pollution; whether it has inspected PHEs to ensure that the Housing Department staff comply with the guidelines for installing and using outdoor lighting facilities in PHEs; if it has, whether incidents of non-compliance with these guidelines have been detected over the past three years;
(c) as the Business Facilitation Advisory Committee has proposed to open up government slopes, street lamps and flyovers/footbridges for use as advertising spaces, whether guidelines or provisions on reducing light pollution caused by advertisements (such as prohibiting the installation of flashing advertisement signboards and restricting the brightness of advertising spotlights) have been set out in the advertising contracts granted by the Government; whether the Government has monitored if advertising lightboxes at bus stops and the relevant devices installed at other advertising spaces (the usage of which must have the approval of government departments) cause light pollution; and
(d) as the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is currently not empowered to regulate light pollution and investigate such complaints whether the Government will enhance the role of EPD in this regard, such as assigning EPD to take up the responsibility of receiving complaints on light pollution?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) Detailed information of the nuisance caused by lights from Government facilities other than pitches/courts managed by Government departments, street lamps and car parks inside public housing estates in the past three years is set out at the Annex.
(b) The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) promulgated the design guidelines on external public lighting installations as early as in 1998 to minimise the impact of external lighting installations of public housing estates on the public. The HA updated its design guidelines in 2007. In the updated guidelines, reference has been drawn from the Public Lighting Design Manual issued by the Highways Department and include advice that floodlights should not be installed in ball game areas where official competitions would not be held to avoid creating possible nuisance. Estates under the HA have met the relevant requirements for their external lighting installations. In addition, the HA will make appropriate arrangements taking account of individual circumstances and residents' needs.
(c) The Lands Department had followed up on the proposal of the Business Advisory Group to open up government slopes, street lamps and flyovers/footbridges for use as advertising spaces. The Department issued two short-term tenancies in November 2000 and February 2002 for displaying advertisement on slopes. Conditions were included in the relevant tenancy agreements to prevent light nuisance from such advertisement. Specifically, no lighting of any kind which will have a glaring effect to any motorist passing by shall be allowed and no occulting or flashing light system shall be permitted.
As regards publicity materials on footbridges and street lamp, currently display of these materials generally does not involve lighting installations. As for advertisement light boxes at bus shelters, according to the guidelines issued by the Transport Department for the erection of bus shelters, the illumination level of advertisement light boxes should be designed to avoid nuisance to drivers and pedestrians.
(d) At present, external lighting such as advertisement light boxes and spot lights etc., are subject to regulation 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 and Environmental Hygiene Department for various purposes. All relevant government departments including Environmental Protection Department, regulatory authorities and the facility managers will continue to respond to and follow up on public complaints against external lighting in accordance with their respective jurisdictions.
Ends/Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Issued at HKT 15:13
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