Members of the community have commented that pavements along Castle Peak Road in Yuen Long town centre, also known as Yuen Long Main Road, and the nearby Kau Yuk Road are often jam-packed with people. The crowd includes local residents living in the surrounding areas who like to go to the town centre for their regular daily activities, as well as visitors from outside Yuen Long. To resolve the overcrowding problem of Yuen Long town centre, one approach could be developing new areas with commercial, leisure and recreational facilities in the vicinity of Yuen Long to divert locals and visitors from the town centre.
Recently, we have explained to the Yuen Long District Council the overall planning of housing sites in Yuen Long District, including the “Planning and Engineering Study for Housing Sites in Yuen Long South – Investigation”, which is one of our multi-pronged measures for land development (including brownfield site development) to address the needs of housing, social and economic development for the community.
Located near Yuen Long New Town (YLNT), Yuen Long South has the potential for high-density development. There are about 216 hectares of Potential Development Areas located to the south of YLNT, bounded by the Yuen Long Highway, Kung Um Road and Tai Lam Country Park, in the Tong Yan San Tsuen area and Tai Tong area. About half of the area is brownfield sites. Eighty-one per cent of this land is privately owned while the remainder belongs to the Government. At present, the area is mainly occupied by open storage yards, warehouses, rural industrial uses and workshops, intermingled with rural settlements and residential uses, agricultural land and livestock farms.
During the Stage One Community Engagement (CE) of the “Planning and Engineering Study for Housing Sites in Yuen Long South – Investigation”, which was completed in mid-2013, we received about 700 written submissions. The public generally supported the study and shared the view of the need to enhance and optimise the potential of brownfield sites for housing development and other uses so as to meet the overall housing needs of Hong Kong. On the other hand, we understand that operators of open storage yards, warehouses, rural industries and workshops worried that their livelihood would be affected by future development. As such, we have responded to them correspondingly and made recommendations in the Stage 1 CE Report and the Preliminary Outline Development Plan. I would like to give a brief explanation on this.
Diverting locals and visitors
First, Yuen Long South can be planned as the extension of YLNT, complementing the new town with its commercial, leisure and recreational uses as well as its green environment for the enjoyment of locals. Developing the area into a green, liveable and sustainable neighbourhood would not only improve the environment, which is now being affected by the brownfield sites, but would also provide the community with an ideal place for living, working and enjoying the pleasant rural and natural landscape. As such, after taking into account the capacity of the infrastructure facilities, especially the capacity of external roads, the environment and the urban design, as well as the balanced needs of various land uses, we suggest to accommodate a population of about 80 000 in the area. At present, there are about 580 000 people living in Yuen Long District.
Besides providing 26 000 housing flats in Yuen Long South, we would also provide government, institution and community facilities and open spaces for the people currently living in the new town and the future population in Yuen Long District. We would also enhance the connection between the area and YLNT, the proposed Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area, and the railway stations. We would form a comprehensive transport network with the proposed new roads and the improved roads of Yuen Long South to provide various public transport services. Furthermore, long-haul bus services running between northern New Territories and Yuen Long South, as well as a pedestrian walkway and cycle track network, would also be provided to ensure easy access for local residents.
Legal and sustainable operation
At present, many of the open storage yards, warehouses, rural industries and workshops in the areas are legal operations that provide backup services to the logistics industry, as well as employment opportunities for locals. We fully understand the concerns of these operators. They have concerns about their livelihood in future and worry that some open storage yards may not be able to relocate into factory buildings, or they may not be able to afford the rents of industrial buildings. However, in view of the scarce and precious land resources in Hong Kong, we must increase the efficiency of our land and alleviate the adverse effects on the environment caused by the current intermingled uses of land, including various industrial, agricultural or residential uses. As land resources are limited, we have to balance the needs of different parties and at the same time take into account the needs of the social and economic development of Hong Kong in the long run when allocating land for different uses.
In this regard, we suggest the zoning of about 20 hectares of land as “Open Storage” and “Industrial” at the northern part of the area near the Yuen Long Highway and the provision of specially designed multi-storey factory buildings in the “Industrial” zone to meet the operational needs of industries. The proximity of the area to the highway network would enable freight traffic to easily access the road system, thus avoiding intrusion into the residential neighbourhood. The zoning of open space and green belt between open storage use and residential areas would serve as a buffer. In future, we will continue to communicate with the stakeholders in the hope that, by working together, we can explore a way to improve the environment and at the same time achieve sustainable operations.
We have made proposals for housing, rural settlements and agricultural development in the Preliminary Outline Development Plan. We hope all of you can actively express your views during the Stage Two CE to assist us in formulating the Recommended Outline Development Plan that can address the expectations and needs of the community, as well as in drawing up a finalised development plan. You may visit the related website to learn more about the proposals, and don’t forget to join us in the community forum and the roving exhibitions.
25 May, 2014
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