Dismay as planners wave through hotel plan for Victoria Peak

Despite opposition from residents and 14 district councillors, the Planning Department says it has no objection to a developer's plan to transform a 97-year-old house on The Peak into a hotel.

The department's stand is expected to have some influence on the Town Planning Board committee which will decide today whether it should allow the conversion of the house on Lugard Road into a heritage hotel.

According to the application, developer Crown Empire would like to transform the four-storey house into a hotel with 13 rooms. It also wants to build two new three-storey villas beside the existing house to provide an additional four rooms.

The plan has drawn opposition from residents concerned about the development's impact on the environment.

They say narrow Lugard Road is off public transport routes and used mainly by residents and hikers, and that additional traffic generated by the hotel would pose a danger to pedestrians.

In a paper prepared for the Town Planning Board, the department noted that the developer had proposed using electric mini cars to service the hotel. There would be restrictions on the number of passenger trips during most of the daytime on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, and a maximum of two trips per hour on other days.