My Lamma Forums

[Lamma-Gung]

For those of you missed this great Save Lamma story in last Sunday's SCM Post, I've scanned (OCR) it below:

Lamma saved
by Kate Whitehead
(C) SCMP, Feb 23, 2003

GOOD NEWS for Lamma Island. Sensible campaigning, solid research and reasonable arguments have paid off and the government is reevaluating its plans to redevelop Yung Shue Wan.

The massive waterfront reclamation would have destroyed the seafront restaurants and laid-back village lifestyle, but the bulldozers have been put on hold. And next week Lanima residents will sit down with Planning Department officials to hammer out the finer details of an alternative proposal.

The decision to talk about what the people really want is a victory for the Save Lamma Campaign, and shows that it does pay to speak out.

Plans to redevelop Lamma have been in the pipeline for a decade. Opposition to the first phase of the redevelopment in 1999 was fairly small, but that changed two years later. �A lot of local Chinese people didn�t realise the negative impact of reclamation, but when they saw the ugly result, they realised that Phase Two would be a real disaster,� says Cecilia Chu, spokesperson for the Save Lamma Campaign.

Speaking out against government plans is not something that comes naturally to Hong Kong people. We don�t like to make a fuss, and the government does not expect us to speak our minds.

This is so firmly entrenched in the Hong Kong mindset that the government usually holds its public consultations after it has come up with a plan. But attitudes are changing.

Mishko Hansen, also a member of the Save Lamma Campaign, says the group�s efforts show that it is possible to effect change. �If you feel there is some significant misunderstanding about something in your community, you should speak out. Individuals and small groups can make a difference,� he says.

In the case of Lamma, what made government planners sit up and take note was the overwhelming public opposition to the plans.

Surveys conducted by Lamma-based groups ABLE Charity and Green Lamma showed that 95 per cent of the 1,300 residents and tourists polled were opposed to redevelopment. And further surveys showed that the vast majority of local businesses also shared similar views. This was news to government planners.

�Often the government does not know what the people want. It�s not just oppositional � it�s a matter of not having the information,� says Mr Hansen. �I think the government now realises that the new plan is better than the old one.

The latest plan, says Mr Hansen, will see the reclamation plans for the waterfront reduced considerably. �It will be a fraction of the original size, more like a walkway than a promenade.�

Ms Chu says the group is pushing for a more sensitive way to access the water and hopes the government will consider the waterfront solutions that have been reached in Japan and Singapore. A full public consultation has been promised this time.

It marks the beginning of a new attitude among government planners, says Ms Chu. She is halfway through an MSc in architecture conservation at the University of Hong Kong. The course, which has been running for three years and is considered one of the best in the world, deals with urban conservation and the way that people relate to neighbourhoods. Among the 22 students on the course are nine government planners from Hong Kong and Macau.

�The government is changing and realising the importance of a consultation process. We have come a long way from the 1980s mentality of knocking things down and rebuilding them without giving it a second thought,� says Ms Chu.

It was that attitude which saw the bulldozers move in on Repulse Bay in 1982. When the public got around to complaining, the old Repulse Bay Hotel had already been reduced to rubble, and the only solution was to rebuild a replica of the much-loved old colonial building.

Thanks to people speaking out ahead of time, Hong Kong will not be having to rebuild the Lamma waterfront in a couple of years.

[Richard]

In todays SCMP....

Monday, February 16, 2004
Lamma road plan approved

ELAINE WU
A scaled-down plan to allow emergency vehicles road access on Lamma Island has been approved by environmentalists and community members, the district council was told last week.

The scheme provides for a walkway by the water as well as a road in Yung Shue Wan that would give emergency vehicles access to the island's helipad. There would also be space for open-air restaurants and cafes.

The original plan was halved to 0.4 from 0.8 hectares after meetings with the concerned groups from September to November. But the proposed completion date of 2010 has annoyed district councillors on the island. They are concerned the date is so far in the future and worry about how emergency cases will be handled before then.

One councillor said the future of the project was in doubt, given the government's financial troubles.

The first phase of the project, completed in 2002, built a ferry pier and garbage depot on a 1.2 hectare site. There are plans to build a police station and a recreational facility as well.

Phyllis Li, a district planning officer with the Planning Department, said the new plan had received support from the Rural Committee and Save Lamma Campaign, the environmental group that had opposed the plans for the original $12 million project.

[Alan]

[Samson]

Thanks for the article Richard

[Lamma-Gung]

Thanks for that article, Richard!

This sounds pretty different from what I've heard last from Save Lamma!
Let me find out from them right now. I'll also ask Alex Chan and Ms Yu...

All I know so far: There was a monthly Outlying Islands District Council meeting last Monday, Feb 9. One of the discussion points on the agenda was something called "revised land use of the 2nd phase harbour reclamation in Yung Shue Wan".
The meeting notes haven't been translated yet by the govt. and made available, it might take several weeks...

[soundbydesign]

or maybe it'll take a few of Samsons' seconds??

G..

[Lamma-Gung]

I've got several comments back already from Save Lamma, within just a few hours.

This seems to have been quite a badly researched story in the SCMP with a lot of distortions and half-truths. The story refers ONLY to the 2nd phase of the harbour reclamation, not the proposed Ring Road through the Yung Shue Long valley, by the way, as some suspected.

The reporter obviously also didn't speak to anybody in Save Lamma at all, who were quite surprised by the story as well. They said that they had supported the general idea of providing a waterfront walkway suitable for pedestrian and EVA use, although they still have considerable reservations about how the detailed plan will be handled. See new plan in another topic in this forum.

[Hellmantle]

This will be exactly what will happen: sell the idea to the public that there has been a compromise and a deal struck so that all parties are happy...blah...blah...blah, but these different "phases" directed from Beijing via HK that will aim to diffuse and eventually water down the rich local culture we have on Lamma will move seripticiously towards manifestation. To them there are too many "nooks and crannies" here that must be exposed and removed so no one can hide. But Lammanites know that it's the natural flow of Lamma is what gives it its charm. To bulldoze down trees and destroy nature in certain areas in a way that shows violence and a complete lack of insight is what will characterize this extended harbour project.

I would suggest that perhaps there's a way we could liaise with Lammadonna to provide "on-the-ground" direction/advice for those following the plans filtered down from the gov't. One side on me thinks this is a waste of time but it could also be a way for our MP to swing his dick and have a voice. It's also a manifestation of democracy in action which all Hong Kongers like.

One way they would listen is if the "Save Lamma" movement became more vocal. Any resistance will cause the gov't - or those civil servants that have a stake in the project - to listen.

It's a slippery slope: once they begin bulldozing and moving earth, little unplanned things will happen in a way that will only take away from Lamma's rustic charm - in my humble onion...