[棕地發展] Brownfield Development

Land Utilization

Background:

A multi-pronged strategy comprising short and long term measures has been adopted to increase land supply.

Short term measures include increasing development intensity of developable land, rezoning, urban renewals and developing railway property.

Long term measures include development projects at Kwu Tung North, Fanling North New Development Areas ("NDA"), Hung Shui Kiu NDA, rock carven and underground space development, and development of brownfield sites located in North District and Yuen Long South.

What is brownfield? 

In Hong Kong, brownfield sites generally refer to the agricultural land in the rural New Territories, especially the relatively flat and more accessible areas. These sites have been occupied by various haphazard industrial operations such as open storage, port-backup facilities, industrial workshops, logistics operations, recycling yards, construction machinery and materials storage, which are often incompatible with the surroundings.

Brownfield development is an urban planning process aimed at maximizing the utility of available land resources.

Benefits:

1. Removal of environmental contamination
2. Maximising the utility of existing land resources
3. Providing an alternative to greenfield development
4. Urban regeneration
5. Improvements of the economy of the site and its neighbouring communities
6. Creating job opportunities

Challenges:

Challenge 1.
The cost of cleaning up the environment, which varies with the extent of contamination, the level of remediation cost and the risk of liabilities. Developers are particularly concerned about the potential environmental liability associated with pollution caused by the past activities on the brownfields.

Measures:

Statutes should be made to define the parties responsible for the remediation, and liability exemption applicable to purchasing parties provided that they comply with specific government regulations.


Challenge 2.
It is not an attractive option when comparing to greenfield development, as most brownfields are located on derelict or abandoned sites with various degrees of contamination.

Measures:

- Introduce a national policy to prioritize brownfield development and protect green belt when planning for new development
- Provide facilitating measures such as undertaking the advance work for the sites to encourage brownfield development.
- Undertake the advance work for the sites to encourage brownfield development
- Introduce tax credit as a development tool if the development scheme could help achieve government policies on housing and employment


Challenge 3. Ownership issue
Brownfields are owned by companies or multiple individuals, making sites assembly complicated and time consuming.

Measures:

- Introduce Local Development Orders granted by the local planning authorities to streamline and accelerate the planning approval process on brownfields.

P.S. Local Development Orders (LDOs) are made by local planning authorities and give a grant of planning permission to specific types of development within a defined area. They streamline the planning process by removing the need for developers to make a planning application to a local planning authority.

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