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SECTION
3 NATURAL RESOURCES CAPITAL STOCK
| 3.2 |
Land
Use and Land Supply |
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| 3.2.2 |
Impacts
and Resource Constraints |
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| 3.2.2.1 |
Several
factors act to shape the state of Hong Kong's
land use and land supply natural resources
capital stock. These factors can be broadly
grouped as development/disturbance pressures
(as constrained by statutory planning processes),
and pollution pressures (consisting of contamination
and waste dumping). Both factors are discussed
below.
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| Development
Pressures |
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| 3.2.2.2 |
Incentives
to provide housing, both for existing residents
of Hong Kong and to support projected increases
in population, as well as to provide supporting
infrastructure in the form of transport,
commercial development to boost employment
and other community services, all act to
heighten the demand for land in Hong Kong.
The effects of this demand on the land use
and land supply natural resource capital
stock will depend upon the proportion of
developed land derived from land in a natural
state, reclamation and/or urban renewal.
The urban renewal option would have the
least impact on land resources since it
would lessen the demand for development
of new terrestrial or seabed areas. However,
it is noted that urban renewal projects
are likely to generate large amounts of
construction and demolition waste and may
be significantly constrained if contamination
at the site renders it unsuitable for residential
use (eg conversion of a former industrial
site to housing). In some cases, the costs
of urban renewal versus new development
may discourage this option.
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| 3.2.2.3 |
Of
the remaining options, both development
of land in a natural state and reclamations
are likely to continue to dominate land
supply. As most land suitable for development
has already been allocated, many new large-scale
developments will continue to be reclamation-based
although public concern regarding filling
of Victoria Harbour may act to site any
new reclamations in outlying areas. Smaller-scale
developments may proceed in terrestrial
areas with favourable land use zoning and
an absence of conservation concerns. Use
of privately-owned land in and around villages
in the New Territories for development will
continue to be controversial since ancestral
rights enshrined in the Basic Law may conflict
with current, best practice planning policies.
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| 3.2.2.4 |
In
addition to efforts to promote urban renewal,
new developments such as those for housing
schemes and commercial developments need to
consider making more efficient use of land.
This will include attention to development
densities to minimise land occupation and
also to the environmental planning aspects
of existing and new land uses such as ensuring
good proximity to mass transit systems and
avoiding exposure to excessive transport noise
through design and location. |
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| 3.2.2.5 |
The
protection and provision of land resources,
as well as the conservation of ecological
and heritage values associated with these
land resources is provided by a number of
policy and procedural frameworks. Future
availability, supply and development of
land in Hong Kong is controlled at the strategic
level through the Territorial Development
Strategy (TDS) which, in its recently reviewed
form (TDSR()), provides a broad land use,
transport and environmental framework for
planning and development. Successively detailed
subordinate 'layers' of planning and development
control are applied through five sub-regional
development strategies and then district
plans including outline zoning plans (OZPs)
and development permission area (DPA) plans.
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| 3.2.2.6 |
While
many key land resources are offered statutory
protection under these frameworks, some resources
are not covered, or not fully covered, within
the scope of the applicable planning tools.
For example, some SSSIs are not covered by
statutory plans or Country Park plans (and
some are not covered by any plan at all),
opening the way for development pressures
on such land. In addition, whilst owners,
tenants or occupiers of the land designated
as SSSIs are advised regarding the designation,
there is no specific management (WWF 1999).
Therefore, whilst the list of SSSIs in the
territory provides an indication of important
biological and geological resources, their
designation provides only administrative protection,
making their natural resource vulnerable to
erosion. In the marine environment, although
Marine Parks have special designation status
which protects against development, other
human uses of the area can be permitted. As
a result, navigation of high speed ferries
(subject to a 10 knot speed limit) and trawling
are allowed in the Sha Chau-Lung Kwu Chau
Marine Park which was designated to aid the
conservation of the Chinese white dolphin
(Sousa chinensis). While such human uses are
regulated and permitted only when certain
conditions are met (eg inter alia, demonstration
of a traditional use of the area in the case
of trawling permits), supporting a multiplicity
of uses and users may not maximise the resource
conservation objectives of the Marine Parks.
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| 3.2.2.7 |
There
is also a lack of strategy for the management
of land in the urban fringe such as Green
Belt areas where recreational activities
are taking place on an informal and unmanaged
basis which may threaten the ecological
and landscape value of such areas. Whilst
such areas play an important role in containing
development and providing an attractive
'green' edge to urban areas, their proximity
to dense areas of population inevitably
results in a demand for other uses of the
land, such as recreation. Whilst Green Belt
areas denote a presumption against development,
there is no active landscape (or conservation)
management. Indeed, DLOs have enacted powers
to clear garden and sitting out areas which
have been informally established by residents
close to Green Belt land, which suggests
that there is an unsatisfied demand for
low intensity recreational management of
such areas which need not be contrary to
landscape and conservation objectives. It
appears that a co-ordinated policy and strategy
is required to manage both the land use
demands and the natural capital of the resource.
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