The government has proposed keeping the zoning for the central part of a north Sai Kung wetland area agricultural instead of conservational, allowing for selective recreational development.
The plan came after Sun Hung Kai Properties, which owns half of the land at Sham Chung, proposed in an August application developing a spa resort in the area.
Sham Chung is governed by an interim planning guide, which will expire next year and be replaced by a formal zoning plan.
In a draft zoning plan to be discussed by the Town Planning Board today, the Planning Department has ruled out green groups' proposals to rezone the central part of Sham Chung as a conservation area, and suggested keeping the agricultural zoning. Lots surrounding the middle part will keep their uses as conservation, village or green belts.
The 8-hectare middle area - once a rice field and habitat for fish, and now abandoned - was illegally turned into a golf course.
Peter Li Siu-man, of the Conservancy Association, said zoning alone is not enough to protect the area, and the landowner should restore the habitat before any development.
