CY faces revolt over green-belt housing

Housing plans targeting the city's green belts are raising the ire of residents and, according to environmentalists, run contrary to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's policy address early this year.

Development blueprints released by the government this year include vegetated sites near existing homes, despite Leung's pledge in January that his administration would try to rezone more green belts that were "devegetated [or] deserted" in order to boost housing. The plans angered local communities.

In the latest twist to the controversy, the government offered to scale down the development of a green belt in Sham Shui Po by cutting 380 flats, after residents of two upscale estates, Dynasty Heights and Beacon Heights, voiced fears that greenery in the area would be destroyed.

The proposal now is to build 980 private flats on 2.04 hectares of land to the north of Yin Ping Road on Beacon Hill, down from 1,360 flats on 2.84 hectares.

Dr Maria Francesch-Huidobro, a City University environmental policy academic who lives in Dynasty Heights, said the plan was just one of the cases indicating a policy shift on the use of green belts.

"The government is contradicting its own guidelines on rezoning, which says green belts should not be developed unless there is an overriding social need," she said.