Hong Kong government slammed over plan to build housing on rare North Point playground
Green Sense says plan will worsen air quality in the district as 34-storey structure will hinder ventilation and reduce recreational space
The 0.12 hectare site between Tin Chiu Street, Java Road and Marble Road is currently zoned for government, institution or community (GIC) use. It is occupied by a public basketball court and a five-a-side soccer pitch.
It is one of the few recreational spots left in the area. A similar GIC site opposite was bulldozed several years ago to build the 32-storey Customs Department headquarters.
Green Sense chief Roy Tam Hoi-pong said the government pledged years ago to keep open three important ventilation corridors, one of them Tin Chiu Street, to promote better air flow. The new plan went back on this, he said.
“We feel this mode of development ... this obsessive search for land anywhere ... will have a huge impact on the community,” he said. “Sacrificing these ventilation corridors will mean North Point’s air quality will only continue to get worse.”
He criticised the government’s strategy of “grabbing” green-belt, recreational and GIC land for residential use, at the expense of public space and living quality, rather than going for brown-field sites or “controlling population growth” – curbing one-way permits and professional immigrants – which he said was the cause of housing pressures.
A tally by the group found that the government had already last year rezoned 24 green-belt, recreational and GIC sites comprising 58 hectares across Hong Kong.