Fifty-four pockets of private land in or close to country parks are not protected by statutory zoning plans and therefore are vulnerable to development such as that which has defaced a scenic site on Sai Kung's Tai Long Wan coast.
This emerged yesterday as the government began the process of imposing a temporary zoning of the site at Sai Wan - which is surrounded by but not part of the Sai Kung East Country Park - where the millionaire owner has started building a private retreat.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said it had identified 77 similar sites of which only 23 had zoning plans. But it said it was not ready to publish details of the sites such as their size and owners.
Some of the 54 sites without planning control are abandoned villages in poorly accessible sites in Sai Kung, along the Tolo Channel and on Lantau Island, that had been excluded from the country parks originally because there were settlements or farming activities there, the department said.
Earlier, the South China Morning Post identified at least 20 such sites in or close to the two Sai Kung country parks, including Pak Lap, Hoi Ha, Lai Chi Chong, Chek Keng and To Kwa Peng. Most of them are not subject to planning control and some of them face imminent development threats such as small house construction.
A spokesman for the conservation department said last night a preliminary assessment of the 54 sites suggested only a few were facing development threats and the department was discussing with other departments the possibility of putting these sites under planning control. It would look into whether the sites should be incorporated into country parks.