Hong Kong Golf Club applies for UNESCO recognition in bid to block public housing plan
Hong Kong Free Press
The Hong Kong Golf Club has applied for a UNESCO heritage conservation award for its Fanling golf course in a bid to block a government plan to build public housing on a nine-hectare plot of the site. The news came as the city’s development minister reaffirmed the government’s plan to build subsidised units on the course.
Club captain Andy Kwok said in a press release on Wednesday that the Fanling course would “enhance people’s appreciation of this unique dimension of Hong Kong’s sporting and cultural history.”
Kwok added that submissions for the 2023 UNESCO Asia Pacific Cultural Heritage Conservation Awards would be evaluated on cultural value, contribution to sustainable development, and contribution to the long-term development of social and cultural heritage.
The results of a club-commissioned cultural landscape research and assessment of the course showed it had “outstanding value ratings in terms of history, course design, nature conservation, sustainability, and quality of architecture,” Kwok said.
The Environmental Protection Department in May gave conditional approval to the plan to build an estimated 12,000 flats for 33,600 residents on a nine-hectare plot of the Fanling course — part of a larger 32-hectare plot slated to be resumed by the government on September 1.
Also in May, Director of Environmental Protection Samuel Chui told the Civil Engineering and Development Department in a letter of the need to revise the housing development layout to preserve 0.39 hectares of woodland and minimise the impact on tree preservation “as far as practicable.”
“We very much want to preserve [the Fanling course] — a living heritage site full of vibrancy — for Hong Kong’s next generation,” Kwok continued.
“As part of our efforts to tell the good stories of Hong Kong, we hope that the value of [the course] as a cultural landscape will be established and recognised and that it will continue to thrive in a sustainable manner so that it can become another unique landmark of this wonderful city.”
‘No need’ to change plan
The club’s announcement came as development chief Bernadette Linn reaffirmed the government’s housing plan at the Legislative Council on Tuesday.
Linn said she did not see a need to change the government’s plan to build public housing on the golf course, adding that the government could not “give up easily,” despite controversy surrounding the proposal. But how the flats would be built and how land supply would be increased, she said, would depend on how the government balanced “different opinions.”
In response to lawmaker Michael Tien’s questions on whether the government would consider converting the 32-hectare plot into a public golf course to “benefit ordinary citizens,” Linn said there was no “pressing need” to do so.
Executive Council convener Regina Ip, one of the seven non-official government advisors who are members of the golf club, said: “If the government insists on destroying the course, they will only cause damage while accomplishing nothing. Do you think the officials in charge should be held accountable?”
Legal sector lawmaker Ambrose Lam said two international competitions were scheduled to be held on the course this year. He hoped that the development projects would consider the government’s image.
Last month, Chief Executive John Lee said golf tournaments would not be affected by the resumption of the course. That came after after Vicky Jones, director of the Saudi Arabia-backed Aramco Team Series championship scheduled for October, threatened to pull the competition out of Hong Kong and move to a different city “if the government presses on with the public housing plan.”
The proposed use of the nine-hectare plot was also redesignated from “residential” to “undetermined” last month. The Planning Department — the Town Planning Board’s executive arm — will have to formulate a draft plan by the end of November, after which the board will discuss the plan and start a 12-month review process, the statement read.
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