ALLEN AU-YEUNG
ALLEN.AUYEUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Friday, 06 November, 2015, 5:26pm
UPDATED : Friday, 06 November, 2015, 5:45pm
Carrick is being preserved and the owner will receive a green belt site opposite. Photo: David Wong
A piece of green belt next to Aberdeen Country Park will be sacrificed to make way for a luxury house after the Town Planning Board today voted in favour of rezoning the belt for a controversial land swap to preserve a 128-year-old European house near the Peak.
Located at 23 Coombe Road, Carrick is a grade one historic building initially set to be demolished as its owner wanted to build a luxury residence there.
READ MORE: Hong Kong Peak residents counter historic mansion demolition with green belt site plan
The company, Juli May, suspended the demolition plan last year after the government offered a land swap aimed at saving the house.
Both sides agreed on the use of a piece of land opposite the house as an alternative development site.
The size of the land is about 1,100 square meters, equivalent to the size of the Carrick site.
However, the proposed swap met public opposition, with over 1,600 objections. Nearby residents and community activists also formed the Aberdeen Country Park Concern Group, which put forward a counterproposal for town planners to consider.
The proposal by the concern group contained two options. The first one would allow the owner to build next to Carrick. The second would give the owner the choice of building on another piece of green belt further away from the country park.
But the Town Planning Board today rejected both options because they felt they were not demonstrated to be technically feasible and the ambience of Carrick should be preserved as completely as possible without adding a new structure next to it.
During the meeting this morning, senior counsel Ruy Barretto, representing the concern group, said: “I am dismayed. If the developer’s application succeeds, there will be a very bad precedent whereby loopholes and abuses will be encouraged.”
Barreto added that “a balance between heritage conservation and the trees” had to be made and that economic incentives to be given to the owner had to be “reasonable”.
In defence of the proposed swap, representatives of Juli May said it had done its utmost to preserve Carrick and eased the impact on the green belt by keeping as many trees as possible. They also argued that the counterproposal was not feasible.
One representative of Juli May said: “We are not destroying the entire green belt buffer. We are taking a very small proportion of that green belt ... We have been very careful to do this properly.”
Juli May was part of Hutchison Whampoa before the firm was reorganised within parent company CK Hutchinson Holdings in May.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1876286/opposition-residents-fails-hong-kong-town-planning
Town planners approve developer's land-swap deal
The developer proposed swapping the site at 23 Coombe Road – which houses the Carrick, a Grade-1 historical building – with the government's green belt land directly opposite as their development project ran into opposition from conervationists.
Concern groups had argued that it is unacceptable that green belt land was being sacrificed for development. A member of the Concerned Group for Aberdeen Country Park, Leo Barretto, told RTHK’s Richard Pyne that this policy of saving historical buildings was flawed.
The company which owns the site, Juli May, was part of Hutchison Whampoa before the firm was reorganised within parent CK Hutchison Holdings earlier this year. The status of the present ownership has not been made clear.