The third in a four-part series on the environmental damage caused by rampant illegal development in the New Territories and how the public is playing an increasingly major role in combating it.
Issues in the New Territories countryside are sometimes more grey than black or white. And often these areas of ambiguity become battlegrounds among villagers, developers, government officials and the public in a mounting conflict between development and conservation.
For example, there are three ways a developer or villager can carry out a building plan: follow the rules to the letter (white); dismiss them altogether (black); or dismiss them initially and deal with the red tape later (grey).
This also explains why development in rural areas can either proceed incredibly quickly or extremely slowly, depending on how much risk people are willing to take.
If rules are followed, a long and complex procedure is set in motion. The developer begins by asking if the site is privately owned, if it is subject to any land use zoning control and whether the development plan is in line with that.
If the development is at odds with the zoning, planning permission or even rezoning approval - for instance, changing the land use from green belt to village development - approval must be sought from the Town Planning Board. Otherwise, the developer can seek approval directly from the Lands Department and Buildings Department.