Country park building plan cuts off coastal family trail

A trail popular with families looks set to be blocked off if officials give the green light to a village house proposal within the Plover Cove Country Park in the northeastern New Territories

The building plan involves a private plot in Kai Kuk Shue Ha village, Luk Keng. The site is on a narrow strip of land, between Starling Inlet and a steep slope. It lies about 100 metres inside the park boundary. It could mean the 2.2 kilometre Fung Hang Family Walk would be cut off unless the house was built elsewhere, warned one concerned local resident, Dr William Butcher.

The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, refused to comment, saying the proposal - filed with the Lands Department in late 2012 - had not been submitted to it.

With the government recently incorporating more villages into the country park areas, the issue of private land rights in the city's beauty spots has been subject to heated debate. Earlier this year, Tai Long Sai Wan residents blockaded another footpath in protest against plans to incorporate their village into a Sai Kung country park.

It is not known who the applicant for the Luk Keng house is but, according to the Lands Registry, the site is owned by a Chu Man-yuk, who was gifted the property in 2012 by Chu Hon-keung, who has a registered address in Britain.

The Lands Department said that the case was still under consideration.