Newsletter from the Save Lamma campaign:

Dear Friends of Lamma,

Holiday greetings to all! Here's a brief campaign update as we enter 2003.

Following the meeting with the Planning Department and Civil Engineering Department, we submitted them a report entitled "A New Vision for Yung Shue Wan". The report is now available at www.savelamma.org. Rather than a detailed plan, it is an examination of the approaches and guidelines most suitable for enhancing Yung Shue Wan. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation made to the government is also available.

We understand that "A New Vision" has been circulated among government departments. For example, at the beginning of December we met with Duncan Pescod, the Deputy Tourism Commissioner, and senior officials Winifred Chung and Kenneth She. They had read "A New Vision for Yung Shue Wan" and agreed about the village's importance in the total tourism offering for Hong Kong. They provided useful feedback and were supportive of the campaign's efforts. There seems to be a growing willingness to listen within many government departments, and we are encouraged by the potential for positive and sensitive initiatives going forward.

In other news, the institute of Landscape Architects has sponsored a project within the Masters of Landscape Architecture program at Hong Kong University to examine the Yung Shue Wan situation and come up with alternative proposals. The background field work was very comprehensive and clearly opposed large-scale reclamation. This background work and the just completed final projects resulted in some very interesting information, visuals, and design concepts which we plan to highlight on the website soon. This material will also be presented to the Planning Department,

For now, the ball is in the government's court. They have gone back to the drawing board and have indicated they are seriously considering the suggestions by Save Lamma and the many people that wrote them urging a more sustainable development strategy for Yung Shue Wan. If they are really listening then they will incorporate the feedback from the extensive resident, tourist, and business survey's and petitions, as well as the information contained in the articles and television programs that have come out about the Yung Shue Wan reclamation project.

As more information becomes available, we may need to increase our pressure, but for now let us see what the government's next move is.

Happy 2003 and may the upcoming year of the Ram/Sheep be a good one for Lamma!

The Save Lamma Campaign