YSL ValleyMarch 2011 Update It has been two years since the destruction of the lily pond in the Yung Shue Long valley with the dumping of construction waste on land zoned for agricultural use. And the "temporary storage of personal property on private land" (which is how the Hong Kong government's Environmental Protection Department describes it) is still there and looks like this:  Last month, dumping appeared on the other side of the path, causing yet more distress to residents. It looks like this: Living Lamma contacted the Land's Department and the Environmental Protection Department. They investigated and found "the area where soil and rubbles have been deposited is a piece of private land." "Apparently the land was filled for the purpose of, as the land owner alleged, improving site drainage but we would not preclude the possibility that he planned to change the land status later for houses development. We will not be able to stop them from doing so under our Waste Disposal Ordinance. However, change in landuse is subject to the control of Planning Department and/or the District Lands Office. I trust they will take necessary actions to guard against any illegal development." Living Lamma followed up with the Planning Department, and got this response: "According to our site inspection on 17.3.2011, the site where dumping was found is a private land lot zoned "Village Type Development" ("V") under the approved Lamma Island Outline Zoning Plan (the OZP) No. S/I-LI/9. According to the Schedule of Uses of the OZP, 'House(New Territories Exempted Houses (NTEH) only)' use is always permitted under the "V" zone. PlanD does not have any statutory power to control / regulate the NTEH developments in this zone. Approval of NTEH developments are under the purview of Lands Department (LandsD). You may wish to contact District Lands Office/Islands (DLO/Is) of LandsD for details of these applications. Regarding development proposals other than NTEH developments in "V" zone, Planning Department (PlanD) will consider the provisions in the OZP, i.e. whether the proposed use(s) is a Column 1 or Column 2 use(s) under the Schedule of Uses of each zone in the OZP . If the proposed development is not always permitted (i.e. not a Column 1 use) under the zonings of the OZP, a planning permission is required on application to the Town Planning Board (TPB) under section 12A (if the use is not a Column 2 use) or section 16 (if the use is a Column 2 use) of the Town Planning Ordinance. So far PlanD and/or TPB has not received any planning application for development on the Site. Regarding your queries about the control of change of status of argicultural land, please note that since Lamma Island has not been previously covered by any Development Permission Area Plan, there is no provision under the Town Planning Ordinance for undertaking enforcement action against any non-conforming use on Lamma Island. Yet your concerns have been forwarded to concerned government deparments (i.e. EPD and LandsD) for necessary follow-up actions, if any." Living Lamma's initial action was to report the dumping to the Land's Department. We did not receive a response from the Land's Department, though EPD followed up, referring us to the Planning Department, which once again sent us back to the Land's Department. We will forward the Planning Department's response to the Land's Department and register the dumping in the Yung Shue Long valley on Citizen's Map. Share your views with us. Write to livinglamma@yahoo.com.  Going, going gone, while the government looks on. The Sorry Tale of the Yung Shue Long Valley. What was once a lush green valley is now a concrete drain. The stream, where children once came to watch the fish, is now a concrete basin surrounded by ugly metal railings. The nullah is filled with rubbish and evil smelling deep black water. Read more... Stop the Mess! We are tired of the continual degradation of Lamma's natural beauty and village character. We are concerned about the poor design of many projects on Lamma. We don't want to see rubbish, concrete and fences. We want our green spaces to have better protection. We want Lamma to be beautiful. Read more... |
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