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SCMP Reporter

Lai Chi Shan residents promise to fight on for open space after the rejection of their rezoning application
A group of Tai Po villagers think the open space in the centre of their community would make a nice park and they want to turn it into one.
But there is only one problem.
The land is designated for village houses, which means it may eventually be crammed with the three-storey structures that have sprouted across the New Territories under the small-house policy, eating up all the available land in many villages.
About half the 300 adults  of Lai Chi Shan  have been campaigning for three years to change the designated use of a 140 square metre  site in the centre of the village to open space.
But their rezoning application has been turned down by the Town Planning Board's Rural and New Town Planning Committee. Under the existing rules, they cannot appeal against the board's decision  and have to file new applications.
Lee Kwai-keung, chairman of Tai Po Lai Chi Shan Union,  said there was a serious shortage of open space in or near their village, which upset  residents.
'If we want to stroll in a park, we have to walk at least 10 minutes to another village,' he said. 'But it takes  more time for children or old people. They also need to be accompanied to cross the roads.'
Leung Yue Sau-ling is among the parents who are upset by the packed living environment and the lack of recreational facilities.
Mrs Leung said one of the reasons the family moved from the Tai Po town centre to the village was to give the children more space to run around. But the proliferation of small houses in the neighbourhood has taken away the open space that her children had used.
'When we first came in 2002, the children could run around and play ball games in the village. But a lot of space is now taken up for building village houses and another open area was planted with flowers by the government,' she said.
Mrs Leung said it was disappointing that people living in a rural village had so  little open space to enjoy.
'It just feels like living in the urban jungle again,' she said.
'We want to turn the site in the centre of the village into a park for the old people to hang out and small children to run around. But we have met with so many difficulties.'
In a submission  to the  committee,  the Planning Department  said  there was  adequate open space for Tai Po New Town as a whole.
It also advised that the rezoning request would aggravate the shortage of land for building small houses.
'The total number of outstanding small-house applications and 10-year forecast of small-house demand for Lai Chi Shan village are six and 50 respectively,' it said.
Tai Po Rural Committee chairman Man Chen-fai   said an indigenous villager had been applying to develop the site since 1997 and the right of the indigenous villagers should be respected.
Mr Lee said the villagers would fight on  for  some leisure space.



Villagers  hit zoning  wall over Tai Po park