JULIE CHUjulie.chu@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 28 November, 2015, 12:01am
UPDATED : Saturday, 28 November, 2015, 12:01am
Kwai Chung resident Chung Shui-mui is challenging a decision to allow a concrete batching plant to be set up on land set aside for Disneyland. Photo: Sam Tsang
A woman has asked the High Court to review a decision by the Town Planning Board to allow a temporary concrete batching plant to be built on a piece of land zoned for the development of Hong Kong Disneyland.
Chung Shui-mui, a resident of Kwai Chung, filed an application for a judicial review to the court saying the board had failed to make sufficient inquiries into the project when it granted permission on August 28 for Yiu Lian Dockyards Limited to build the temporary plant.
Chung's lawyer, in the application document, wrote: "[Chung] was more concerned with the fact that permission was being granted for industrial use in an area that was supposed to be developed for tourism.
"She hopes to see Lantau developed as an attractive tourism area for the benefit of the wider community."
The document said Yiu Lian requested use of the plot of land in northeast Lantau, claiming it had "genuine temporary use" for a plant. The company made the application for the first time in 2013 but withdrew it later.
It applied again but was refused by the board last year. The board found the company failed to demonstrate that the proposed plant would only be used for three years.
The firm applied again this year and the board approved a plant for three years.
Chung questioned whether the board had made sufficient inquiries as to whether the site was "genuinely intended" to be used for three years only.
She said the issue of whether it was temporary was essential in the application because the land was within a zone specifically earmarked for tourism and recreational development to complement Hong Kong Disneyland, as stated in Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's policy address last year.
She also questioned why the board had changed its mind on the application when there had been no material change in the circumstances surrounding it.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1884310/hong-kong-disneyland-site-being-used-concrete-plant
