Detailed planning parameters to be set out for each site

Land auctions will no longer be threatened by judicial reviews because detailed planning parameters will be set out for every site, the development chief said yesterday.

There will be limits on building height, gross floor area and the ratio of the building's size to a site's area. The parts of a site which must not be built on and the width of visual corridors will also be prescribed.

The measures are intended to stop developments creating a 'wall effect' that blocks sunlight and air circulation.

'The uncertainties for developers will be minimised,' said Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

In addition, a ventilation study must be conducted on sites two hectares or larger and those where buildings with gross floor area of 10,000 square metres or more will be built. Ten of the 62 sites on the list - in Sheung Wan, North Point, Hung Hom, Tsuen Wan and Tai Po - fall into these categories.

'The studies will be conducted by the government before the sites are auctioned,' she said, since it would be unfair to developers if they were done afterwards. Such studies could result in a reduction in potential development density, she said.

The plot ratio of a residential site on the Hung Hom waterfront had been halved, the building height limit reduced by a sixth and other restrictions imposed following a ventilation study.

In Yuen Long, buildings may only cover 40 per cent of the site, may not exceed five storeys and must have a gross floor area of no more than 6,076 square metres.