Planning chiefs have announced two measures to plug a loophole in the town planning system that has long been criticised for rewarding a 'destroy first, build later' approach by rural landowners.
The Town Planning Board said yesterday the measures were in response to incidents in recent years in which landowners or occupants in the New Territories illegally filled and cleared their land of vegetation before making a development application to the board.
'[They did so] in the hope that the board would give sympathetic consideration to the application as there would be nothing to protect and conserve on the application site,' the board said. 'The board has discussed the issue and decided to... deter these activities.'
From today, an application for rezoning or development of a site involved in activities such as illegal land and pond filling will be deferred by the board until a full investigation is completed.
In the past, there have been cases in which the board approved erection of village houses on former farmland that had been subjected to illegal dumping.
In 2009, owners of land in Ho Sheung Heung, Sheung Shui, sought to legalise their dumping activities after unloading large amounts of construction waste on farmland.
Their application was approved and only the drivers and contractors responsible for transporting the waste were prosecuted.