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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 within the Tai Po area," a spokesman for the Town Planning Board said today (November 18).
The Planning Scheme Area, covering an area of about 2,438 hectares, is located in the central part of North East New Territories. The area can be broadly divided into three physical areas - the Tai Po Hui and its adjacent reclamation; the valley floors and lower hillslopes to the north and south; and the steep upper hillslopes on the peripheral areas.
About 117.8 hectares, 64.1 hectares and 121.1 hectares of land are zoned "Residential (Group A)", "Residential (Group B)" and "Residential (Group C)" respectively for private residential and public housing developments at various development densities.
Some 24.2 hectares of land at Tai Po Hui is zoned "Commercial/Residential" to allow greater flexibility in combining commercial with residential uses. About 149.2 hectares of land is zoned "Village Type Development" for the retention and expansion of existing villages as well as the reservation of land for the reprovisioning of village houses affected by Government projects.
A site to the north of Ting Kok Road and to the south of Fung Yuen Site of Special Scientific Interest is zoned "Comprehensive Development Area (1)" (18.4 hectares) to encourage comprehensive development/redevelopment with a view to phasing out the existing undesirable open storage and car-repairing workshop uses.
To meet the needs of residents in the Area and the territorial demand, 175.5 hectares of land is zoned "Government, Institution or Community" (GIC) for the provision of a wide range of GIC facilities. Some 69.5 hectares of land is zoned "Open Space" to provide land for both active and passive recreational activities and 37.3 hectares is zoned "Recreation Priority Area" for a variety of recreational uses.
Some 2.4 hectare of land is zoned "Other Specified Uses" (OU) annotated "Business" covering six existing buildings with mixed industrial office uses. A number of sites allocated for golf course, industrial estate, Kowloon-Canton Railway, sewerage treatment plant, leachate pre-treatment works, petrol filling stations and bus depot are also zoned "OU" (200.8 hectares).
Fung Yuen Valley and Tai Po Egretry are zoned "Site of Special Scientific Interest" (43.5 hectares) to defer human activity or development within the sites and to conserve the features of special interest. Part of Tai Mo Shan Country Park is zoned "Country Park" (5.7 hectares) and development control is carried out under the Country Park Ordinance. The remaining area (1,279.6 hectares), which mainly consists of steep hillsides in the peripheral areas, is zoned "Green Belt".
The approved Tai Po OZP No. S/TP/19 is now available for public inspection during normal office hours at the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, the Tai Po and North District Planning Office, the Tai Po District Office and the Tai Po Rural Committee.
Copies of the approved plan 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 on the Town Planning Board's website at http://www.info.gov.hk/tpb.
Ends/Friday, November 18, 2005
Issued at HKT 14:45
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