Antiquities board to grade historic Fanling lodge and club
Government heritage advisers will decide on monument status of buildings, independent of debate over whether to use sites for housing
The Antiquities Advisory Board hopes to decide next month on the grading of the historic buildings of the Chief Executive's Lodge and the Hong Kong Golf Club's clubhouse in Fanling.
It comes amid public debate over whether the lodge and club should be used for housing under the government's plan to build new towns in the northeast New Territories.
The discussion followed an assessment panel proposal that the lodge and clubhouse be given grade-one and grade-two monument status, respectively. The board meeting yesterday did not come to a conclusion, but asked for more information.
In July, development minister Paul Chan Mo-po said the lodge and club could make way for housing, with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying later saying he was willing to include the lodge in the development boundary if necessary.
Despite this context, board chairman Andrew Lam Siu-lo maintained that the board would base its grading solely on the buildings' historic, architectural and social values. The future use of the sites was outside the board's mandate, he said.
"Just like when we discussed the grading of the old government headquarters' west wing, we did not take into consideration traffic in Central and whether Hong Kong needed more space for offices," Lam said.
"We do hope to make an impact on the future uses of historic buildings … But in reality … the grading decisions are purely administrative."