Advertisement
Opinion | Destroying a historic Hong Kong golf course for housing would be an act of supreme folly
- The course is irreplaceable, the plan raises environmental concerns and may even have geopolitical costs
- If it’s just a face-saving effort by the officials concerned, a wise government would reconsider
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
33
All planning decisions, big or small, have a political element to them because, by definition, someone is applying for permission to do something constrained by the law. What is unique about the discussion on the proposal to develop part of the Fanling golf course is that it is now entirely political in nature and the planning aspects have become almost irrelevant. Yet the outcome will be determined by the Town Planning Board.
Advertisement
Let me begin by stating that I do not play golf and am not a member of any golf club. I do not even watch the sport. Despite that, I have formally objected to the draft zoning plan. I believe the government proposal is wrong for Hong Kong and against the community’s best interests. (Full disclosure: one of my wife’s companies is a paid consultant to the Hong Kong Golf Club).
One of the first things I learned when I joined the government in 1980 was always to pay a site visit before making a decision. When I was an assistant district officer in the New Territories, many proposals involving land use crossed my desk. Being new, I wanted to see the situation for myself. Time after time, I found that what seemed like a neat solution on paper was nonsense on the ground.
Accordingly, when the Fanling housing proposal was first floated, I went to look. It takes about 10 minutes for the neutral observer to see that the site is unique – remarkable in its ambience, history and environment. We could build 100 replacement golf courses elsewhere and landscape them lavishly but none could ever capture the full flavour of what we already have.
Never mind the background (a small privileged elite occupying a large area of land), history has given us a world-class sporting facility – the only one in Hong Kong of this calibre. To destroy it would be an act of supreme folly.
Advertisement
On the sporting aspect, the scale of the present facility has enabled the golfing authorities to expand their outreach to the community and nurture local talent. Hong Kong now has world-class golfers, both men and women, who have qualified for senior international events.
Advertisement