FANNY W.Y. FUNG FANNY.FUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Friday, 23 October, 2015, 7:01am
UPDATED : Friday, 23 October, 2015, 7:01am
Now you see it ... heritage restoration expert Wong Hung-keung walks past the old shop front in Peel Street, which was then covered up on Thursday. Photos: Nora Tam
A group of activists and district council election candidates on Thursday went to a Mid-Levels redevelopment site to petition for the preservation of an old shop sign – only to see workers cover it up with a large sheet of black canvas before fencing off the building, helped by police.
The call for a halt to demolition of buildings in the area was issued by the Central and Western Concern Group after it consulted heritage restoration specialist Wong Hung-keung and estimated the Ying Kee Hard Coal shop sign at 21 Peel Street dated back at least 70 years.
They also said remains of tenement houses on Cochrane Street, also part of the Urban Renewal Authority project site, could have been built between the 1830s and 1911 and should be conserved.
The Graham Street project, a plan to redevelop Hong Kong’s first wet market into a commercial and residential zone, was first announced by the now-defunct Land Development Corporation 17 years ago and was revived by its successor, the URA, nine years ago.
Around 10 people, including district councillors and community organisers of the Democratic Party, visited the site on Thursday afternoon to petition for an immediate investigation into the immediate area's heritage values.
READ MORE: Save the colonial ruins around Graham Street, urge activists
“We were to hand a petition letter to the URA. But then about 10 construction workers and police officers came with fences and tools. The workers soon fenced off the building and covered the shop sign,” said party member Ng Siu-hong, who is running in the Mid-Levels East constituency against incumbent district councillor Jackie Cheung Yick-hung, an independent.
The concern group has now written to the URA and development secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, urging them to “make timely intervention to save this heritage item which reflects the history of our old street market in Central”.
A spokeswoman for the URA said: “Since we heard the opinions recently, we have already contacted relevant government departments and will collaborate as much as we can if there is any work needed.”
However, she stopped short of saying whether the workers’ latest action was related to demolition of the building. On Tuesday, the URA said it had not been required to submit a heritage impact assessment report and the plan was approved by the Town Planning Board in 2007.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1871214/ominous-sign-workers-cover-old-coal-shop-front-and
