Planners reject British school’s campus on Hong Kong waterfront
Managers at Mount Kelly wanted permission for a temporary Hung Hom campus, where they planned to run classes while expanding their Tsim Sha Tsui site
Town planners on Friday rejected the appeal of a troubled British school for a temporary campus overlooking Hong Kong’s harbour, dealing a blow to its plan to expand in the city.
The Town Planning Board decided to uphold its previous ruling that Mount Kelly School could not use a 22,000 sq ft site at the Cheung Kei Centre in Hung Hom for five years while renovating and expanding its campus in Tsim Sha Tsui.
According to the school’s development plan, a temporary campus would have enabled it to reach its enrolment target of 400 pupils by 2021, instead of having to wait until the Tsim Sha Tsui campus is completed in 2023. Without the temporary campus, the school can only admit 150 pupils in 2021, to study at the unfinished Tsim Sha Tsui site.
A school spokeswoman said after Friday’s decision: “The school is deeply regretful about the result of the appeal. It has taken an effort to address various concerns raised by [the board], but the result is very disappointing to the school.”
She said the school needed to decide what to do next.