Judicial review threatened over Hong Kong third runway consultation

A green group is considering launching a judicial review after it accused the Town Planning Board of trying to block opposing views at a hearing on the plan to build a third airport runway.

Green Sense president Roy Tam Hoi-pong accused the board of sending a vague invitation by email to potential participants of yesterday’s consultation session.

The email did not contain a specific day, which Tam argued breached the town planning law.

Section 6B of the Town Planning Ordinance states that the board, in addressing parties engaged in the drafting of plans, “shall ... give reasonable notice of particulars of the meeting [including the date, time and place ]”.

Tam said about 10,000 potential participants, who submitted proposals on the runway, were sent a first email on October 20, saying that the meeting, which began yesterday, would be held some time in mid-December.

Only those who indicated their interest, the end of the email said, would be allowed to attend.

Those who did not reply to the first email received a second last week, telling them the venue, date and time of the meeting.

Tam accused the board of deliberately leaving details ambiguous. The second email stopped short of stating that those who did not reply to the first email could not attend the meeting.

He passed a letter drafted by a lawyer to the board’s representatives yesterday.

A spokesman for the Planning Department, which oversees the board, said it had handled other meetings in the same manner before, and that those who had yet to confirm their attendance or interest to speak at the meeting could contact the board’s secretariat.

The meeting yesterday was for the board to consult the public on the outline zoning plan for the HK$141.5 billion third runway, which critics said was costly and harmful to the environment.

Representatives of Green Sense said the project failed to take into account damage to the environment and the noise it would create, compared to the claim that the city would benefit.