The Ombudsman is investigating the booking of the city's public sports facilities after a preliminary inquiry found many of the highly sought-after slots reserved for sports groups and non-governmental organisations went unused, with many others offered for resale.
The inquiry last year found 700 cases of block bookings in which groups neglected to cancel the booking in time and failed to turn up to use the venue. Despite repeat offenders making some of the reservations, they faced no penalty other than a warning.
Alan Lai Nin, the Ombudsman, said public funds subsidised about 80 per cent of the general costs of the public sports facilities, which were managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
'It is of utmost importance to ensure that members of the public have a fair chance to use those facilities and that abuse and wastage are stopped as far as possible,' Lai said.
'If the administration is to promote 'sports for all' successfully it is essential that there should be a better mechanism for the booking and use of sports facilities by the general public.' He said his department had received more than 50 complaints about the booking system over the past two years.
The leisure department's booking policy, intended to foster sports development, gives priority to hundreds, if not thousands, of groups - such as national sports associations, community sports clubs, schools, government departments, charities and 'bona fide associations and corporations' - to book venues three to 12 months in advance.