Draft Tai Po Outline Zoning Plan approved
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     The Chief Executive in Council has approved the draft Tai Po Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).

     "The approved OZP provides a statutory land use planning framework to guide the development and redevelopment in the Tai Po area," a spokesman for the Town Planning Board said today (September 18).

     The planning scheme area, covering about 2,438 hectares of land, is located in the central part of North East New Territories. The area can be broadly divided into three physical areas, namely the Tai Po Hui and its adjacent reclamation; the valley floors and lower hillslopes to the north and south; and the steep upper hillslopes in the peripheral areas.

     To meet the pressing need for housing land supply and the new policy initiative on the youth hostel scheme, six sites in Tai Po New Town have been rezoned for residential development and a site at Po Heung Street has been rezoned for hostel-cum-youth centre use. The building height restriction of a site zoned "Government, Institution or Community" ("G/IC") at Hong Chi Pinehill Village has also been relaxed to eight storeys to facilitate Hong Chi Association's redevelopment of the Integrated Vocational Training Centre.

     About 108.5 hectares, 29.4 hectares, 141 hectares and 0.7 hectare of land are zoned "Residential (Group A)", "Residential (Group B)", "Residential (Group C)" and "Residential (Group D)" respectively for private and public housing developments at various development densities.

     A site of about 18.4 hectares at Fung Yuen is zoned "Comprehensive Development Area(1)" ("CDA(1)") for comprehensive residential development/redevelopment and low-density residential and agricultural uses with the provision of open spaces and other supporting facilities.

     To reflect existing recognised and other villages, and to provide land considered suitable for village expansion and reprovisioning of village houses affected by Government projects, some 150.4 hectares of land are zoned "Village Type Development".

     To serve the needs of the local as well as the district population, a total of 175.9 hectares of land are zoned "G/IC" for the provision of a wide range of G/IC facilities. Some 65.8 hectares of land are zoned "Open Space" to provide land for active and passive recreational activities and 3.8 hectares at Tai Po Kau are zoned "Recreational Priority Area" for eco-tourism related recreational developments.

     Some 188.8 hectares of land are zoned "Other Specified Uses" ("OU") for specific uses which include railway stations and railway track of MTR East Rail, the Tai Po Industrial Estate and Tai Ping Industrial Centre, a golf course at the former Shuen Wan Landfill and two historical sites preserved for "G/IC" or cultural uses.

     About 43.5 hectares of land covering Fung Yuen and the Tai Po Egretry are zoned "Site of Special Scientific Interest" to deter human activity or development within the sites and to conserve the features of special scientific interest. Another 75.5 hectares of land including the Tolo Pond Mangrove, the Pai Mun Shan Area, the Tai Po Kau Headland and its adjacent inter tidal ponds are zoned "Conservation Area" to protect and retain the existing natural landscape and ecological or topographic features. About 5.7 hectares of land within Tai Mo Shan Country Park are zoned "Country Park" and development control is carried out under the Country Parks Ordinance.

     About 1,264.8 hectares of land covering mainly hill slopes and wooded knolls are zoned "Green Belt" for defining the limits of urban and sub-urban development area.

     The approved Tai Po OZP No. S/TP/26 is now available for public inspection during office hours at the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, the Planning Enquiry Counters of the Planning Department in North Point and Sha Tin, the Sha Tin, Tai Po and North District Planning Office, the Tai Po District Office and the Tai Po Rural Committee.

     Copies of the approved OZP are available for sale at the Map Publications Centres in North Point and Yau Ma Tei. The electronic version of the plan can be viewed at the Town Planning Board's website (www.info.gov.hk/tpb).

Ends/Friday, September 18, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:05

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