Save our rugby pitch: HK$40 million Tin Shui Wai ground under threat from developers as union launches urgent appeal
- Hong Kong Rugby Union has launched an online appeal for the public to oppose a rezoning application to the Town Planning Board
- The ground is home to the Tin Shui Wai rugby club and has produced three Hong Kong sevens players
Hong Kong rugby’s HK$40 million investment in a Tin Shui Wai sports ground will go up in smoke if developers have their way.
The Hong Kong Rugby Union this week launched an urgent appeal to the public to put pressure on the government to refuse an application to rezone a 10,486 square metre area in the heart of Tin Shui Wai. According to the union, “some influential members of the political community” want to turn the field and immediate area into a shopping complex and a car park.
The government is set to consider the rezoning application on December 21.
“I think our concern is not so much what happens in January next year but what will happen in January, 2020,” said HKRU chief executive Robbie McRobbie. “If they do approve the rezoning, they will need an application to build on the site. We have invested a lot of money into Tin Shui Wai and all that will go up in smoke if we lose it.”
The HKRU has started a Facebook appeal in which supporters are asked to fill out a form opposing the development and send it to the Town Planning Board by the November 2 deadline for comments to be submitted.
A document outlining the development proposal states that the applicant “seeks Town Planning Board agreement to rezone the application site from ‘Open Space’ and ‘Road’ to ‘Comprehensive Development Area’ for community complex, market, cooked food market and car park uses”.
McRobbie said the HKRU had invested about HK40 million in the Tin Shui Wai Community Sports Ground over the past five years, including the building of a new toilet block and two pitch replacements.