Page 4 - Town Planning Board Report 2015-2017

2 Town Planning Board Report 2015 - 2017 Chairperson’s Foreword

Chairperson’s

Foreword

Land is pivotal to sustaining Hong Kong’s housing, economic and social
development. In the developed urban area, there is a pressing need for dealing
with the aging building stock and providing improvement to densely developed
districts while addressing expectations for optimising the use of prime sites. In
the rural area, the major challenges are in preserving the natural environment
and village setting, containing proliferation of brownfield sites and unlocking the
development potential of suitable land areas to address the shortfall in land supply.
While the nature of planning issues to be dealt with in the urban and rural areas may
be different, the quests for a more liveable, green and sustainable environment on
the one hand and for the sufficient provision of social, community and infrastructure
facilities on the other remain the same. It has become increasingly challenging for
the Town Planning Board (the Board) to strike a right balance that would serve the
best interest of Hong Kong.

In the three-year period from 2015 to 2017, the Board continued to devote its efforts
in meeting the housing demand as well as the economic and social development
needs of the community. The Board considered during the report period various
land use reviews and approved a total of 44 sites for rezoning to residential use.
The Board also examined the potential of topside development at railway stations
and related sites along existing and new railway lines with a view to optimising the
use of such land. In considering proposals of increasing the development intensity
in Kai Tak, the Board duly considered the urban design principles, the Harbour
Planning Principles and Guidelines, provisions of infrastructure and community
facilities and the views of key stakeholders. In dealing with representations and
comments received in respect of amendments to expand the airport at Chek Lap
Kok into a three-runway system, the Board carefully balanced the diverse interests
of different stakeholders and the need for the development.