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Following is a question by the Hon Tony Tse and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Home Affairs, Ms Florence Hui, in the Legislative Council today (May 28):
Question:
According to a paper submitted by the authorities to a subcommittee of this Council in March this year, the consultant commissioned by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) has completed the technical assessments on the traffic, environmental, air ventilation, visual impacts and building height implications of the proposed planning application for minor relaxation of development intensity of the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) site (the proposal). The assessment results show that the proposal is technically feasible. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the benchmarks, principles and presumptions based on which the consultant conducted the aforesaid assessments, and the period covered by such assessments;
(2) whether it has comprehensively studied if the composition of WKCDA as well as its modes of management and operation can dovetail with the overall development of WKCD under the proposal; if it has conducted such a study, of the details and results; if not, the reasons for that and whether it will do so; and
(3) whether it has comprehensively reviewed if the delay in the construction works of the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) will have an impact on the results of the aforesaid assessments; if it has conducted such a review of the details and results, and the follow-up actions taken; if not, the reasons for that and whether it will conduct such a review?
Reply:
President,
The reply to the three parts of the question is as follows:
(1) The planning application for minor relaxation of gross floor area (GFA) and building height restrictions, which aims to optimise the development potential of the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) site, is submitted to the Town Planning Board for consideration based on the GFA and building height restrictions stipulated under the approved WKCD Development Plan (DP) No. S/K20/WKCD/2, and in accordance with section 16 of the Town Planning Ordinance. The additional GFA generated would be used to meet the public aspiration for additional arts and cultural facilities and land supply for commercial and residential developments. Various assessment years were adopted for respective technical assessments in view of different requirements of the technical assessments.
The traffic impact assessment (TIA) was conducted based on the existing and planned road networks and infrastructures within WKCD and in the surrounding areas. The original vehicle-free and pedestrian-friendly concepts were maintained. The TIA had adopted the assessment years of 2020 and 2031, which were the same as those adopted in the TIA completed in 2012 for the DP.
The Environmental Review was carried out based on the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for WKCD approved in November 2013 and relevant environmental standards, including the assessments on air quality, noise, water quality, waste management, land contamination, ecological, landscape and visual aspects. For air quality and noise impacts, the assessment years adopted were 2020 and 2035 respectively, which represented the worst case scenarios.
The methodology and technical analysis adopted for the air ventilation assessment (AVA) was based on the AVA completed in 2012 for the DP. Reference has been made to the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau and Environment, Transport and Works Bureau Joint Technical Circular No. 1/06 on Air Ventilation Assessments in the assessment which aimed to assess the changes in air ventilation performance in WKCD and its surrounding areas with the increase in GFA and building heights in WKCD.
The visual appraisal and building height assessment was conducted based on the visual impact assessment completed in 2012 for the DP. The analysis had indicated that the planning application with minor relaxation of building heights would induce no adverse visual impacts on the Kowloon ridgeline viewed from the same seven key public vantage points with consideration to the guidelines as set out in Chapter 11 of Urban Design Guidelines in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines.
(2) To dovetail with the overall development of WKCD under the proposal, the Management of WKCDA is currently conducting a comprehensive assessment of the structure, management and operations of WKCDA with a view to strengthening the planning for management and operation of the retail/dining/entertainment facilities and other arts and cultural facilities; as well as the design aspect between hotel/office/residential developments and WKCDA facilities, with an aim to optimise the phasing and priorities of the WKCD development under the constraints of limited resources and time.
(3) Given that XRL is expected to commission in 2017, and that the assessment years of the TIA are 2020 and 2031 whereas the assessment years of air quality and noise impact assessments are 2020 and 2035 respectively, it is considered that the delay of the XRL project will not change the results of the impact assessments.
Ends/Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Issued at HKT 12:11
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