Local villagers upset over New Territories rezoning plans

Indigenous villagers from New Territories have slammed down town planners and green groups for imposing unfair constraints and new rezoning plans for their land use. The villagers have warned that there may be social unrest if the plans were to go ahead without attuning to the needs of the villagers.

Numerous rural representatives met with the Hong Kong Town Planning Board in April to voice out their concerns on draft zoning plans for three country park enclaves – So Lo Pun in Sha Tau Kok and Pak Lap and Hoi Ha in Sai Kung. This is the first out of four meetings that is scheduled to take place to discuss rezoning plans.

Indigenous villagers, who legally have a right to land in New Territories, are opposed to the tentative expansion plans because the village development zones, or V zones, are insufficient to meet future demand for small houses. Fan Foo-choi , a resident of Kap Tong Village, said the government was expanding green belt and country parks to increase the city’s housing supply, as part of the plans in  C.Y Leung’s recent policy address.

He said: “The next generation will have no more land or a place to call their own. I can assure you anti-government riots like the ones in the 1950s and 1960s will occur again”.