“However, Pok Fu Lam is not the appropriate place … we suggest that the San Tin Technopole in Yuen Long would be one of the alternative options.”

He was referring to a planned technology hub near the border with mainland China.

According to the university, the Global Innovation Centre, spanning 4.72 hectares (11.6 acres) on Pok Fu Lam Road near Queen Mary Hospital, is expected to be a world-class academic and scientific research facility. It would also include space for teaching, conferences, offices, staff quarters, catering and support facilities, as well as landscaped areas open to the public.

The project will help develop Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology hub as envisioned in the latest national five-year plan and consolidate the city’s leading position in basic research, HKU says on its website.

But according to its planning report, more than 2,000 trees will need to be cut down. Of the site’s 4.72 hectares, 4.12 hectares are located in a green belt owned by the government, use of which requires rezoning approved by the Town Planning Board.

The residents’ group said its members were not against the plan, but the scope of the project had gone far beyond their expectations.

De Eb said HKU had organised two briefing sessions to explain the issues to the public in mid-May but no resident was told about them.

“If the project is finally approved by the Town Planning Board, we would consider applying for a judicial review as the final act,” he said.

The Town Planning Board said it sought public views about the site’s rezoning over the past two months and stopped gathering submissions on Wednesday. The board is expected to examine the project in the next few months.

Lawmaker Judy Chan Judy Chan Kapui agreed the location was undesirable and proposed moving the project to Lamma Island.

“The former Lamma Quarry has been abandoned for numerous years. It could be used for the innovation centre,” Chan said. “The project is large scale and will cut down thousands of trees, while affecting the traffic of the district.

Paul Zimmerman, a former local district councillor and the CEO of Designing Hong Kong, noted Pok Fu Lam Road lacked a central divider and bus lay-bys. He said there were concerns traffic congestion and vehicle accidents might increase if the centre was built.

More traffic is already expected in the area from other projects, including the expansion of Cyberport and HKU’s medical school.

Chan Kim-ching, founder of Liber Research Community, a local NGO focusing on land and development policy, said it was common to use a lack of public consultation as a reason to apply for a judicial review seeking to overturn rezoning decisions. If the residents mounted their legal challenge, they had a chance of being successful, he added.

The government has been turning to green belts for developments in recent years due to the shortage of land. In 2015, a student at the Institute of Education, since renamed the Education University of Hong Kong, applied for a judicial review in a bid to overturn a decision by town planners to endorse rezoning plans that would allow the construction of flats on five green-belt sites in Tai Po.

The case was dismissed in 2017 on the grounds that continuing it would amount to an abuse of the court’s time.

In a reply to the Post, a university spokeswoman said the innovation centre was intended to help drive Hong Kong’s competitiveness and transformation into a global innovation and technology hub.

“The university values feedback and has been liaising with internal and external stakeholders over the past months,” she said. “It will continue to communicate with the stakeholders concerned through various platforms.”

She added a dedicated website had been launched to provide information and collect comments.