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A spokesman for the Town Planning Board today (June 29) announced details of the approved draft Lau Fau Shan and Tsim Bei Tsui Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).
The Planning Scheme Area, covering about 679 hectares, comprises fish ponds in the east and the coastal peninsula in the west.
The continuous and contiguous fish ponds with a total area of 78.41 hectares are part of the wetland ecosystem in the Deep Bay Area. They are zoned "Conservation Area" to conserve their ecological value and to function as an important habitat for roosting and foraging of waterbirds.
The mangroves at the coastal areas of Tsim Bei Tsui and Inner Deep Bay, and the Tsim Bei Tsui Egretry cover a total area of about 77.91 hectares. They are zoned "Site of Special Scientific Interest" consisting of mudflats and shallow water habitats which support a wide variety of organisms, and provide a resting and breeding place for several hundred pairs of egrets and herons of high ecological value and scientific importance.
The fish ponds covering 81.67 hectares at Fung Lok Wai are zoned "Other Specified Uses" annotated "Comprehensive Development and Wetland Enhancement Area". The zone provides incentives for comprehensive development and/or redevelopment with conservation objectives and positive measures to enhance the ecological value and functions of the existing fish ponds or wetland under a "private-public partnership approach".
The Town Planning Board may allow limited low-density private residential or passive recreational development within the above zone through the planning permission system in exchange for the developer's committed long-term conservation and management of the remaining ponds or wetland within the development site.
On the western peninsula, 55.99 hectares of land along the Deep Bay coast is zoned "Coastal Protection Area" to preserve and protect the natural coastline and attractive coastal feature from urban development.
The lower hill slopes, vegetated and gardening land, fallow agricultural land and some isolated ponds occupying the major portion of the western part of the area are zoned "Green Belt", which covers 203.21 hectares.
About 36.41 hectares of land are zoned "Recreation" for development of recreation and eco-tourism.
Areas around the Lau Fau Shan Roundabout, which are the centre of the seafood market and restaurants, are zoned "Commercial/Residential". The zone occupies a total of 5.17 hectares.
Sites along Lau Fau Shan Road and Deep Bay Road are zoned "Residential (Group C)" and "Residential (Group D)", taking up 8.33 hectares and 5.7 hectares for low-rise, low-density residential development and residential upgrading respectively.
An area of 11.89 hectares to the east of the Lau Fau Shan Roundabout, which is occupied by residential structures, open storage use and workshops, is zoned "Residential (Group E)" to encourage the phasing out of the sporadic rural industrial activities and temporary structures by redevelopment to residential use.
The existing villages and area of land reserved for village expansion are zoned "Village Type Development", taking up 53.26 hectares.
The approved OZP No. S/YL-LFS/5 is now available for public inspection at the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, North Point Government Offices; Tuen Mun and Yuen Long District Planning Office, 223 Hing Fong Road; Yuen Long District Office,269 Castle Peak Road; Ha Tsuen Rural Committee, No. 1 Tin Ha Road; and Ping Shan Rural Committee, 137-149 On Ning Road.
Copies of the approved plan are available at the Map Publications Centres in Yau Ma Tei and North Point.
End/Friday, June 29, 2001
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