Don’t blame government for delay in approving impact report on housing plan for Hong Kong golf course, review panel head says

Stanley Wong, chairman of Advisory Council on the Environment, says members on Friday could only agree that questions remained over methodologies used for report

His deputy Nora Tam notes some surveys were conducted without following basic field guidelines

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The Fanling golf course in northern Hong Kong. Photo:Sam Tsang

Published: 8:30am, 21 Aug 2022

The government should not be blamed for problems that environmental advisers found in a report on the ecological impact of building 12,000 flats on a private golf course in northern Hong Kong, the head of the review panel has told the Post.

Stanley Wong Yuen-fai, the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Environment, on Saturday said it would be unfair to call the compilation of the environmental impact assessment report “sloppy”.

Members postponed the decision on Friday as they could only agree that many questions about the government’s methodologies used in the report remained unsolved, he said. Some of the additional information requested will take at least seven months to collect, according to the council, so the review will be passed to new members who will take up their roles in January.

“But it’s not fair to say the government did a sloppy job. Methodologies adopted by government-commissioned consultants can vary a lot, and Hong Kong lacks experts in bats and moths,” he said, referring to animals that could be affected by the housing plan for the site in Fanling.

Deputy council chairwoman Professor Nora Tam and chairman Stanley Wong meet the press after announcing no decision had been made on approving the environmental impact report on Friday. Photo: Edmond So

While some results provided in the report were “not unacceptable”, most members hoped for more information from authorities to ensure ecological surveys were representative and comprehensive, he added.