Planning board shrinks zones for village houses in country-park enclaves

The Town Planning Board has approved cuts of up to 59 per cent to land reserved for small houses in three country park enclaves.

The largest reduction is at Pak Lap, in the Sai Kung East Country Park, where land zoned for small houses will shrink from 2.37 hectares to 0.98 hectares. Most of the rezoned land in Pak Lap - which is now zoned for agricultural use - is owned by private firm Master Mind Development Limited, Land Registry records show.

Housing sites in So Lo Pun, within the Plover Cove Country Park near border town Sha Tau Kok, were cut by nearly 40 per cent - from 4.12 to 2.48 hectares. The two areas that have been rezoned in that village are now green-belt land, which cannot be developed unless there is an overriding social need.

But Michael Lau Wai-neng, from WWF-Hong Kong, said the area zoned for housing in So Lo Pun was still too big. "The village has long been deserted," he said. "I can't see why we have to plan for a large development there."

In Hoi Ha, within the Sai Kung West Country Park, the Town Planning Board approved a 25 per cent cut, or 1.98 hectares, to land for building village houses.