Planners postpone talks on height limits at police station compound

The Town Planning Board yesterday postponed considering proposals to set a height limit on developments at the historic Central Police Station compound, annoying NGOs that had put forward the idea.

An application by 13 non-governmental organisations for a height limit of 77 metres at the site was to have been considered early next month. The NGOs oppose a 150-metre observation deck proposed by the Jockey Club last year.

The Planning Department this week asked the board to postpone the hearing until the club made its design available later this year.

Yesterday, in response to demands by the NGOs that the delay should not be allowed to favour the club, the board said it would hold the meeting by November 21, before it was due to consider the club's new proposal for development of the site.

That decision sparked criticism that it was an unnecessary 'face-saving solution'. Albert Lai Kwong-tak, director of the Conservancy Association, said: 'It would be embarrassing for [the department] to back down.'

Bernard Lim Wan-fung, a board member, said the board was entitled to grant deferment. 'The board treats both sides equally,' he said.