Hong Kong government’s assessment of protected trees at golf course where public flats may be built went beyond requirement, court told
- Senior counsel for government says unfair for Hong Kong Golf Club to claim authorities failed to account for protected trees in environmental impact assessment for redevelopment of course
- Last week, club’s legal representative described government’s assessment as ‘deficient’, highlighting that 80 potentially valuable trees previously identified at site were absent from report
The Hong Kong government went beyond what was required in its assessment of protected trees at a proposed site for public flats on part of the city’s oldest golf course, the High Court heard on Monday.
Senior Counsel Jin Pao, representing the government, said it was “not fair” for the Hong Kong Golf Club to assert that authorities failed to account for protected trees in its environmental impact assessment for the redevelopment of the Old Course in Fanling.
“It is simply not correct,” Pao told the court. “[I]t is an unfair criticism to say that no work was done to identify potential ‘old and valuable trees’.”
The golf club last year lodged a judicial challenge against the director of environmental protection’s conditional approval of the assessment report, which could allow for public housing to be constructed on the Old Course.
Development authorities last September proposed building 12,000 public housing flats on 9.5 hectares (23.5 acres) of the course, part of 32 hectares of land taken back by the government.
But the court imposed an interim order halting any construction decisions arising from the assessment report after the club filed a judicial challenge in response.