The board, a statutory body that assesses land applications, received 6,788 responses from the public last year, with an overwhelming 99.6 per cent against the housing proposal.

A week ahead of the public hearing, the government changed the zoning of the proposed residential site to “undetermined” to give it more time to amend the housing plan and reduce the density as requested by environmental authorities.

Nightlife tycoon Allan Zeman slammed the housing plan as being “absolutely wrong”. While not a club member, he objected to the proposal because he cared about the heritage value of the 112-year-old course, he said.

What next for controversial plan to build housing on Hong Kong golf course?

It was not “just a normal golf course” and losing part of it would not help to repair the city’s image while the economy was still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, he argued.

Sources said former MTR chairman Fred Ma Si-hang would also attend the hearing schedule for next Wednesday and he was expected to highlight some potential problems with the proposal.

Among the opponents to the housing plan expected at the hearings is veteran surveyor Lau Ping-cheung, who has declared himself a member of the golf club.

Despite being on the now-defunct Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee which recommended measures to then chief executive Leung Chun-ying a decade ago, Lau said the site should be kept as a public golf course managed by professionals.

He acknowledged that the government owned the land and could take it back, but said: “It is not necessary to build homes on this site given that there are a lot more land options.”

Developing Hong Kong farmland ‘no substitute’ for building housing on golf course

Lau pointed to plans for new towns under the Northern Metropolis mega proposal to turn 30,000 hectares in the New Territories into an economic powerhouse with housing for 2.5 million people.

Another former official, who declined to be named before the hearing, said building homes on the golf course site would cause serious traffic congestion in the district.

Only 16 respondents told the board they supported the housing plan, including former director of planning Ling Kar-kan, who is expected to appear at Monday’s hearing.

He wrote earlier that the proposed housing site was of relatively low ecological value and could answer housing needs.

If the plan to build public flats was derailed, “it will be a major blow to housing supply in the coming decade”, he cautioned, adding that finding an alternative site would be impossible given the tight land supply.

Housing adviser Johnnie Casire Chan Chi-kau said he would attend the public hearing to support the proposal on behalf of the Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies.

“It has been hard to identify land for housing, so the government should press ahead with the project,” he said.

Building on Hong Kong’s oldest course will hurt future of golf: sports body

As for the number of flats to be built, the government should respect the input from the environmental authorities and adjust the plan, Chan suggested.

Among the concern groups that support the proposal and will attend the public hearings is the Society for Community Organisation, which serves the poor and underprivileged.

It has urged the government to speed up building new homes as the average waiting time for a public rental flat was 5.3 years.

Hong Kong Golf Club housing plan to cut ecological vote in rare move

Authorities have stressed their determination to proceed with the plan, but said the new flats were now expected to be completed by 2031, two years later than the initial target.

Using part of the golf course was among the short- to medium-term proposals to provide land for housing in a decade. It was recommended in 2018 by the now-defunct Task Force on Land Supply after months of public debate on ways to tackle the shortage of housing sites.

Hong Kong rural body proposes housing scheme near controversial golf club site

Anthony Chiu Kwok-wai, executive director of the Federation of Public Housing Estates, said he understood that the original plan had to be modified to meet environmental requirements but he hoped the scale would not be reduced significantly.

“I don’t wish to see the goal of building homes changing,” he said. “After all, the government has accepted the suggestions of the land debate. It will be a great pity to throw out the proposal.”

The Town Planning Board is expected to decide by November at the latest whether to approve the zoning of the golf land for housing and related purposes.

But it will need final endorsement by the chief executive and his advisers. If the proposal is approved, the government will amend the housing proposal and submit a new plan to the environmental authorities by the end of next year.