Lung Mei activist confident on judicial review for artificial beach plan

The first hearing for a judicial review request over the government’s decision to allow an artificial beach near Tai Po is to begin as early as Monday morning, says an activist group.

Ho Loy, a member of Save Lung Mei Alliance who is asking the court to stop beach construction, had applied for leave for judicial review at the High Court in June on grounds of a flawed environmental impact assessment by the government. 

“We are very confident that the court will grant leave to us as all our indications have been based on pure science and fact,” said Ho, who is filing the request under her name. “I am sure the court will make a fair and impartial judgment.”

Ho, whose separate application for legal aid has yet to be approved, said she expected the legal campaign to be prolonged but “winnable” and expected initial legal fees to be upwards of about HK$200,000. She said she did not expect a result until after September.

“We had intended to push for a later court date, but lawyers from the opposition refused and we are now being forced to appear before court next week,” Ho said. “If the court case takes longer, we do expect legal fees to increase…possibly to about HK$1 million or more.”

The alliance on Thursday called on supporters to donate HK$300 each for the legal campaign. It said it hoped to gather at least 1,000 donations.