The Government today (March 20) announced the launch of a six-month consultation to solicit views from the public and stakeholders on the recommendations of the review of the Private Recreational Lease (PRL) policy. The review report proposes modifications on the current PRL arrangements and lease conditions to better meet the objectives of supporting sports development and optimising land use as well as respond to the community's concerns on PRL sites in recent years.

     The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, said at a media briefing today that Hong Kong has a total of 66 PRL sites. The lessees of these sites can be broadly categorised into two groups, which are "private sports clubs" and "community organisations". In recent years, there have been discussions on whether and how the PRL sites could be better utilised, including using these sites for other more imminent needs. There are also views that the current PRL policy of granting of sites at nil or nominal premium is too lenient. On the other hand, many people recognise the contribution of PRL sites to sports development, but consider that facilities on PRL sites should be further opened up so as to alleviate the strong demand for public sports facilities of the sports sector and the general public.
 
     Mr Lau said that to address the community's concerns on PRL sites and follow up on the recommendations of the Director of Audit's Report on "Direct land grants to private sports clubs at nil or nominal premium", the Home Affairs Bureau established an inter-departmental working group to review the policy on PRLs. After rounds of detailed discussions, the working group has proposed the following modifications on the PRL policy:
　

(a)	Different handling of the leases held by "community organisations" and "private sports clubs" and granting new special purpose leases (instead of PRLs) to sports and recreational sites held by "community organisations";
(b)	Continuing to handle the sites held by private sports clubs under the PRL policy but the lease conditions should be significantly modified to better meet the dual needs of supporting sports development and optimising land use;
(c)	Taking into account the contribution of private sports clubs in promoting sports development in Hong Kong when considering the renewal of their leases upon expiry;
(d)	Requiring private sports clubs suitable for lease renewal to pay a concessionary premium to be set at one-third of the full market value land premium;
(e)	Requiring private sports clubs to further open up their facilities to eligible outside bodies at up to 30 per cent of their total sports capacity and partner with sports organisations to organise sports programmes that can be open for enrolment by individual members of the public with a minimum of 240 sports programme hours per month;
(f)	Drawing up the list of allowable sports supporting facilities and ancillary facilities for PRLs;
(g)	Enhancing the monitoring of PRLs and the corporate governance of the lessees; and
(h)	Defining the principles in approving applications for new sites for sports and recreational use.

     The Government would like to widely solicit views from different sectors of the community on the proposed modifications in order to consider the way forward of the PRL policy. After the end of the public consultation period, the views collected will be summarised and presented to the Chief Executive in Council for consideration.
 
     The public consultation on the PRL review will close on September 19, 2018. Members of the public may send in their views direct by email to prl_consultation@hab.gov.hk, by fax to 2519 7404 or by post to the Private Recreational Lease and Land Matters Section, Home Affairs Bureau (Recreation and Sport Branch), 13/F, West Wing, Central Government Offices, 2 Tim Mei Avenue, Tamar, Hong Kong. The consultation document can be downloaded from the website of the Home Affairs Bureau (www.hab.gov.hk).

Ends/Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Issued at HKT 19:05

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