*********************************************************
The Chief Executive in Council has approved the draft Lai Chi Wo, Siu Tan and Sam A Tsuen Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).
"The approved OZP provides a statutory land use framework to guide the development and redevelopment within the Lai Chi Wo, Siu Tan and Sam A Tsuen area," a spokesman for the Town Planning Board said today (February 19).
The planning scheme area, which comprises three sub-areas, namely the Lai Chi Wo area, the Siu Tan area and the Sam A Tsuen area, covers a total area of about 131 hectares. The area is surrounded by Plover Cove Country Park except where it adjoins the Lai Chi Wo Special Area near Lai Chi Wo and fronts onto the Yan Chau Tong Marine Park.
The general planning intention in the area is to protect its high conservation and landscape value which complements the overall naturalness and the landscape beauty of the surrounding Plover Cove Country Park. It is also intended to consolidate village development so as to avoid undesirable disturbances to the natural environment and overtaxing the limited infrastructure in the area.
About 5.92 hectares of land is zoned "Village Type Development" to designate both existing recognised villages and areas of land considered suitable for village expansion.
About 0.11 hectares of land is zoned "Government, Institution or Community" to reflect the existing Hip Tin Temple and Hok Shan Monastery, a toilet, a telephone exchange, and the former Siu Ying School at Lai Chi Wo which will be converted into a geoheritage and ecological education centre.
About 9.5 hectares of land is zoned "Agriculture" to retain and safeguard good quality agricultural land, and retain fallow arable land for rehabilitation for cultivation and other agricultural purposes. It covers the active agricultural land intermixed with abandoned farmland/grassland at the southern part of the villages at Lai Chi Wo and Sam A. The areas to the south-western and southern parts of Lai Chi Wo Village comprising largely abandoned agricultural land also fall within this zone to retain active and fallow arable land for agricultural purposes, including leisure farming or organic farming, and to preserve the rural setting as well as the natural environment in the area.
About 91.97 hectares of land is zoned "Green Belt" covering the natural vegetation, woodland, hilly terrain, hillside shrubland, grassland and stream courses including the Ecologically Important Stream and its riparian zone together with a narrow strip of land in between the Lai Chi Wo Special Area and the village cluster of Lai Chi Wo Village so as to protect existing green areas and preserve the hilly terrain in the area. It also comprises permitted burial grounds at the central part of Lai Chi Wo and the fringes of the planning scheme boundaries near Kop Tong.
About 23.54 hectares of land is zoned "Conservation Area" to protect and retain the existing natural landscape, ecological or topographical features of the area for conservation, educational and research purposes and to separate sensitive natural environment such as Country Park from the adverse effects of development. The wooded area to the north of the existing Lai Chi Wo Village; the mature (fung shui) woodlands at Mui Tsz Lam, Kop Tong and Sam A Tsuen; the coastal area along the eastern boundary of Lai Chi Wo; and the wetland system in Siu Tan are included within this zone.
The approved Lai Chi Wo, Siu Tan and Sam A Tsuen OZP No. S/NE-LCW/2 is now available for public inspection during office hours at the Secretariat of the 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 North District Office; and the Sha Tau Kok District 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 Board's website (www.info.gov.hk/tpb).
Ends/Friday, February 19, 2016
Issued at HKT 16:08
NNNN
