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Latest Press Release High Court Judgment on "Wanchai Temporary Reclamation" Government reclamation plan Temporary reclamation plan 10-05-2007 Position Statement Judicial Review on Wanchai "Temporary Reclamation" 10-01-2007 Central Reclamation – No Proper Public Consultation 01-12-2006 Reclamation and Air Pollution: A City Losing its Lungs Author: Mr.Winston Chu 13-11-2006 Hong Kong Rallies to Support the Protection of Victoria Harbour 07-11-2006 Love our harbour - support the "Walk of the Harbour" & "Harbour Carnival"
29-06-2006 20-06-2006 12-06-2006 05-06-2006 01-06-2006 SPH Press Conference: Public Message from Mr. Simon F.S. Li regarding the proposed Government headquarters on Tamar 26-05-2006 Tamar Development - Municipal Centre 26-04-2006 Invitation: Sunday, 30 April 2006 “OUR Tamar Day” Carnival 21-02-2006 88% of Hong Kong People Want a Greener Harbourfront 09-02-2006 First Open Meeting of Subcommittee to Review the Planning for the Central Waterfront (including the Tamar Site): 26-01-2006
23-01-2006 "Planning for West Kowloon and the Harbour-front" Public Opinion Survey 17-12-2005 CIVIL SOCIETY DECLARES VICTORY 10-11-2005 "Harbour Week Carnival" 02-11-2005 24-9-2005 Request For Independent Review - Central & Wanchai Districts 08-9-2005 A Day to Celebrate - Harbour Day on 13 November 2005 Special Photo Competition and Exhibition 05-8-2005 SPH is disappointed about TPB's rejection 22-7-2005 TPB meet again in two weeks to discuss CRIII 19-7-2005 SPH+SOS+CTA Joint Press Conference: Demand for Good Governance 22-4-2005 Kids Love the Harbour Campaign 250 Kids Paint Hopes for the Victoria Harbour on 4.22 Earth Day 19-4-2005 Kids Love the Harbour Campaign Views of The Society:Presentation to the Harbour Business Forum No Appeal Against the High Court Judgment 18-4-2005 Harbour Business Forum Briefing on Monday, 18th April 2005 Presented by Winston Ka Sun Chu, Adviser 16-4-2005 Victoria Harbour - Desperately Saving Victoria
Message
of Thanks - 'Save Our Harbour' Campaign The Pulse -- From ATV 30-10-2004 The Central District (Extension) Outline Zoning Plan No. S/H24/6 (Sep, 2004) Proposals To Amend the Outline Zoning Plan to Reduce the Amount of Reclamation, Reduce the Amount of Commercial Development and Reduce the Extent of Roads Volume 1 Planning Statement (PDF file, large size: 6M) Volume 2 Technical Appendices (PDF file, large size: 14M) 22-9-2004
Our Society hereby announces the official commencement of a Signature
Campaign as part of our "Save Our Harbour" Campaign that we have
been undertaking for the past nine years. The purpose of the Campaign
is to stop the Government from permanently damaging the Harbour,
and ruining Hong Kong's Central District through massive development.
8-9-2004 Central Reclamation and
Post-Reclamation Development
ESPH’s Submission to TPB to Review Central Plans The Society for Protection of the Harbour (SPH) submitted to the Town Planning Board (TPB) today that the TPB should use an existing administrative procedure to request the Executive Council to refer the Central (Extension) Outline Zoning Plan (CEOZP) back to the TPB for consideration as the public interest is best served by such a review. Excessive Land for Commercial Development The SPH believes that as a consequence of the Court of Final Appeal judgment on the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance handed down on 9 January 2004, the scale of Central Reclamation can and should be reduced by about 5 ha. Furthermore, the use to which new and existing land in Central is to be used post-reclamation under the CEOZP will alter the face of Central forever for the worse, as prime areas will be put for massive commercial and retail complexes even though the Chief Executive said publicly on 17 October 2003 that there would be no commercial buildings on the reclamation [4.4.2]. According to the CEOZP, there will be SIX development zones slated to provide 1,422,000 sq.m. (15.3 million sq. ft.) of commercial and office space, a large portion of which will come from new reclamation [Section 4.4]. “The public thinks that the reclaimed areas will be used for parks and a promenade when in fact most of it will be used by the government for land sales to develop offices and shopping malls with little relationship to the people’s enjoyment of the Harbour. Indeed, the entire face of Central from Statute Square to beyond City Hall will be dominated by what the government calls a Groundscraper, which is really a skyscraper laid horizontally”, said Christine Loh, the SPH’s chairperson.
Instead, the SPH believes that the land created from reclamation should be used to create a signature public space as a legacy for Hong Kong as a whole. The SPH emphasized to the TPB in its submission that: “A scarce public resource, the water, has been depleted and in its place a lower order public resource, land, has been created. The public should therefore have the absolute right to the proper use of that land” [3.4.2]. Excessive Roads The Government claims that Central Reclamation III is necessary in order to build the Central Wanchai By-pass (CWB) to relieve traffic. The SPH’s traffic study accompanying its TPB submission notes that the CEOZP includes massive surface roads beyond provision for the CWB. Having assessed the surface roads (Road P2 network), SPH’s traffic consultants recommended that these roads can be downsized from a dual-3 through primary distributor into a much shorter dual-2 local access road which is reconfigured to maintain accessibility and capacity. “We found that the Government’s existing road plans had in fact not taken into account new traffic reduction estimates. Road designs have also not been reconfigured to ensure that if the CWB is built that it will serve its design purpose to provide easy access for traffic from the West to go East. As it stands, much traffic will in fact use P2, leaving the CWB under-used and therefore public resources wasted,” said Winston Chu, adviser to the SPH. Waterfront Park The SPH proposes that the size of the reclamation can be reduced and for the reclaimed areas to be used to create a large and lush park that will become a defining, signature space for public enjoyment. The proposals from the SPH will result in an extra 8 ha of public park, or more than 15 football pitches. For any enquiry about this press release, please contact our campaign
manager, Mr Angus Ho at 3101-8191, thank you.
Recent Press Releases Central
Reclamation and Post-Reclamation Development ESPH’s Submission to TPB to Review Central Plans The Society for Protection of the Harbour (SPH) submitted to the
Town Planning Board (TPB) today that the TPB should use an existing
administrative procedure to request the Executive Council to refer
the Central (Extension) Outline Zoning Plan (CEOZP) back to the
TPB for consideration as the public interest is best served by such
a review. Elect to Protect Victoria Harbour on 12th September The protection and preservation of Victoria Harbour is an extremely important social and environmental issue for Hong Kong. In response to the forthcoming September Legislative Council Elections, the Society for Protection of the Harbour (SPH) has decided to conduct a 'Vote For The Harbour' Campaign and is asking its supporters and the Hong Kong public to cast their vote for the Harbour. SPH will also undertake a signature campaign such that the community can show their concern for and support of the Harbour. Posted on Sep 2, 2004 No Appeal Against the High Court Judgment Our Society has taken further legal advice from our team of legal advisers including Senior Counsel regarding the above Appeal in the light of the following:- Posted on April 19, 2004 Effect of Judgment - The CFA Judgment stated that, as the Town Planning Board had erred in law in the correct interpretation of the Harbour Ordinance, the Board's decisions must be quashed and the matter must be remitted back to the Board for reconsideration; and that the Judgment applies to any reclamation proposal in the Harbour.
Recent Judgment of the High Court The Judge pronounced that "It may well have been preferable
for the Chief Executive in Council to remit the (Central) plan (to
the Town Planning Board), at least regarding the extent of reclamation",
but decided that he had no power to order the Chief Executive in
Council to do so. The Judge also pronounced that he had "no
jurisdiction to determine whether the Chief Executive in Council
was right or wrong in his decision". Central Reclamation Phase III - HCAL 102 of 2003 The Central Reclamation Judicial Review was necessitated by the
recent Court of Final Appeal ("CFA") Judgment in respect
of the Wanchai Judicial Review. Victory for Victoria Harbour Government must stop Central Reclamation
immediately In a clear and unambiguous judgment, the Court of Final
Appeal (CFA) unanimously upheld the High Court Judgment of Madam
Justice Chu on the correct interpretation of the Protection of... Response to Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau’s Comments on “Harbour Primer?dated 01/12/2003 In response to the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau’s comment
on the “Harbour Primer? Friends of the Harbour would like
to clarify the three key issues raised: 1. Accusations made against
the material used for this pamphlet was inaccurate Contents... Press Conference on Thursday, 27th November 2003 at 11:00 a.m.
at Room 2006, One Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong Alternative
Schemes for Central Wanchai Waterfront 1. Our Society is pleased
to circulate the Conceptual Plans and Explanatory Notes of... Alternative Two: Harbour Front for Central, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay Summary The approach is conceptual, based on sustainable development
principles, good urban design and landscape design. Fundamental
Assumptions 1. The over-run tunnel for the Airport Railway will
need to be completed. 2. To build the Airport Railway over-run tunnel,
the... Alternative One : Harbour Front for Central, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay Introduction The High Court has ruled that the Government’s
proposals for the waterfront in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay are excessive.
While that decision is still subject to appeal, it is apparent that
if the approach advocated by the Court...
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