Lai See | Developer submits new application for Peak hotel

We appear to have been somewhat hasty in pronouncing last week that the controversial heritage hotel planned for 27 Lugard Road on the Peak had been dropped. The developer, Crown Empire, which is controlled by Yau Tang-tit, brother of Chief Executive Office director Edward Yau Tang-wah, had indeed withdrawn its original application for the scheme but has since submitted a new application. Those wishing to object should do so by December 2.

The original plan was for a 17-room luxury boutique hotel and envisaged catering to 52 people. Lugard Road is one of the more picturesque and tranquil areas in Hong Kong and is popular with visitors and hikers. Unsurprisingly, the plan attracted considerable public opposition but was approved by the Town Planning Board in September last year - a decision that also raised public ire.

There were concerns that the project would disturb the tranquility of the area, particularly with an increase in vehicles. In addition, critics wondered how the Environmental Protection Department sanctioned the sewage arrangements for the hotel, which envisaged a new septic tank and a soakaway system allowing 20,000 litres of effluent a day to seep into the surrounding area.

According to a report by the Alliance for a Beautiful Hong Kong, these arrangements would mean "Lugard Road and the country park below the property become a key part of the leeching field for hotel sewage in violation of EPD standards".

The new application states that the revised plan includes more stringent traffic management and "additional environmentally friendly hotel design and facilities for advancement in hygiene and fire safety, such as installing a new environmentally friendly sewerage system within the site and firefighting water supply and modern fire services installations".

The number of guestrooms has been reduced from 17 to 12, thus enabling "more conservation elements such as a public education centre and gallery which can be accessed by the public for free". The application concludes, "The proposed amendments will further enhance the proposal for the benefit of the local community and surrounding environment."

However, as the saying goes, "the devil is in the details".