Town Planning Board seek judicial review over Nam Sang Wai
A long-running series of legal disputes over a housing development - in an ecologically sensitive Yuen Long wetland - has taken yet another turn.
According to court documents, the Town Planning Board is seeking a judicial review of an appeal board decision that favoured the developers of the Nam Sang Wai housing project.
The appeal board ruling, in December, asked the planning board to review a decision it made in 2010 - that the developer had failed to meet 18 conditions under the project's 1996 approval. The developers, Nam Sang Wai Development and Kleener Investment, are controlled by Henderson Land Development and the Fu family, led by Adrian Fu Hau-chak, chief executive of KHI Holdings.
In the 1996 plan, a proposed 43-hectare golf course was spread over the site and 2,550 homes were scattered over the course in well-spaced clusters, according to the board's court documents. But a modified plan, filed in September 2010, cut the golf course to 10 hectares, made the residential blocks more concentrated and introduced a new wetland enhancement area.
Calling these major changes, the planning board ruled against the developers in December 2010. The developers took the case to an appeal board, which decided the planning board must review its 2010 decision.
Now the planning board is asking the High Court to rule that the appeal board has no legal power to deal with the developers' appeal. Henderson declined to comment. KHI did not reply to a request for comment.
