The applied potential of Hong Kong's town planning system in area based heritage conservation

Abstract

The sense of belonging and identity of people in Hong Kong has strengthen since the 1990s, particularly after the 1997 handover, there was a growing recognition of the importance of heritage conservation. In response to the growing public concerns and heated discussions on the issue of conservation of heritage structures after the demolition of Star Ferry Pier and Clock Tower in December 2006, the heritage conservation policy and new initiatives are drawn up in the 2007-08 Policy Address and Policy Agenda.

However, the conservation policy and initiatives are limited to individual building level only. This may result in the incompatibility of the heritage building with the surrounding developments. As a result, many conservationists and scholars comment that it should expand the heritage conservation work beyond individual buildings by embarking on an 'area-based' approach. Overseas experiences especially from United Kingdom in area based heritage conservation have been studied to provide legitimate guidance i.e. Conservation Areas.

On the other hand, Area Based Heritage Conservation cannot be achieved without the facilitation of a town planning system. As a result, the relationship between heritage conservation under the town planning system has been reviewed, problems and issues has been examined. This study reveals that after the Government’s recent policy and initiatives in the past few years, to a large extent, have resolved or alleviated some of the decades-old problems under the existing town planning system. The objective of heritage conservation has been incorporated to different levels of town planning system. However, it is surprised that the adoption of Area Based Heritage Conservation is still not yet incorporated into the town planning system like Conservation Areas in the UK. Are there any difficulties to adopt this in Hong Kong? The answer is yes.

Although there is still no timetable for the adoption of the designated area of "Special Design Area" ("SDA") proposed in the "Comprehensive Review of the Town Planning Ordinance" 1991 for area based heritage conservation in statutory plans, the introduction of planning application submitted to Town Planning Board ("TPB") for consideration under section 12A for planning permission under Town Planning (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 is found to be a usable tool for the area based heritage conservation under the statutory power of town planning system at district level. In practice, this may not work, as seen with the s.12A planning application submitted by the Central and Western Concern Group ("CWCG") which was not agreed by the Metro Planning Committee ("MPC") under TPB on 8 May 2009.

If political and economical considerations were ignored, CWCG’s proposals in the s.12A planning application can be implemented "in theory" under the existing planning system of Hong Kong. However, gaining the approval of s.12A planning application from MPC is just the first step of the whole town planning process. This study continues to examine the following steps in town planning processes under different sections of Town Planning Ordinance ("TPO"), particularly in the plan-making process under section 6 of the TPO, which CWCG needs to go through in order to incorporate the accepted proposal eventually into the relevant approved statutory plan for area based heritage conservation. The whole process is lengthy and during the process CWCG’s proposal may subject to the attacks of the individual property owners and the developers, etc., as the development potential of their properties is being affected.

If political and economical considerations were ignored, CWCG’s proposals in the s.12A planning application can be implemented "in theory" under the existing planning system of Hong Kong. However, gaining the approval of s.12A planning application from MPC is just the first step of the whole town planning process. This study continues to examine the following steps in town planning processes under different sections of Town Planning Ordinance ("TPO"), particularly in the plan-making process under section 6 of the TPO, which CWCG needs to go through in order to incorporate the accepted proposal eventually into the relevant approved statutory plan for area based heritage conservation. The whole process is lengthy and during the process CWCG’s proposal may subject to the attacks of the individual property owners and the developers, etc., as the development potential of their properties is being affected.

This study concludes that although s.12A planning application has 'hidden' potential for area based heritage conservation, under the current political sentiment, it will not have the chance (i) to be accepted by the TPB and (ii) to incorporate the approved proposal into the relevant statutory plan subsequently unless it can obtain the consent of the sole current land owner/all current land owner(s) (private/government). As there are several successful projects of area based heritage conservation implemented by the Urban Renewal Authority in the past few years e.g. the Blue House Cluster in Wan Chai, the MPC recommends discussing the issues in the recent Urban Renewal Strategy Review ("URSR"). However, from the latest "Public Views and Future Direction – Paper for the Consensus Building Stage of the URSR" released in May 2010, does not mention about Area Based Heritage Conservation.