LCQ15: Unlawful occupation of government land

Following is a question by the Hon Audrey Eu and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (June 24):

Question:

I have received complaints from members of the public who said that as early as the 1990s, they had lodged complaints with the Lands Department (LandsD) about the illegal conversion of a footpath at San Tin Park, which had been designated for a specific use, into a vehicular access. Upon the release of the investigation report of The Office of the Ombudsman in 2008, LandsD undertook to reinstate the footpath expeditiously. In its recent reply to me, LandsD stated that it would use the regularization approach in handling the case and would not take action against such unlawful acts. It also indicated that using the regularization approach in handling cases of unlawful occupation of government land is an established and pragmatic policy of the Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) whether it had used the regularization approach in the past in handling cases of unlawful occupation of government land which had been designated for a specific use or was not vacant; of the following details of each case, handled by the Government using the regularization approach in the past three years, of unlawful occupation of government land which had been designated for a specific use or was not vacant;

* Location
* Area involved
* Situation of unlawful occupation of government land which had been designated for a specific use or was not vacant
* Year in which the complaint or report was received concerning the unlawful occupation of government land which had been designated for a specific use or was not vacant
* Year in which the Government used the regularization approach in handling the case

(b) whether there are established criteria to be followed when it decides if the regularization approach is to be used or not in handling cases of unlawful occupation of government land which has been designated for a specific use or is not vacant; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will formulate the criteria concerned;

(c) whether an established procedure has to be followed when using the regularization approach in handling cases of unlawful occupation of government land which has been designated for a specific use or is not vacant; if so, of the details of such a procedure; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will formulate the procedure concerned; and

(d) whether public consultation has to be conducted before using the regularization approach in handling cases of unlawful occupation of government land which has been designated for a specific use or is not vacant; whether there is any mechanism at present for members of the public to lodge complaints when they are dissatisfied with the Government's handling of cases by the regularization approach; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will formulate the mechanism concerned?

Reply:

President,

In September 2005, the District Lands Officer/Yuen Long (DLO/YL) received an anonymous letter complaining about the unauthorised conversion of a footpath, largely falling within the land covered by a government land licence (GLL) in San Tin, Yuen Long, into an access also for vehicular use. However, DLO/YL later learnt that the access had been used by vehicles before 2005, or even earlier. According to the outcome of the district consultation exercise conducted by the District Officer/Yuen Long (DO/YL), the majority of the local residents were in favour of retaining the access for use by both pedestrians and vehicles. DO/YL also would consider improving the road surface of the access following the normal standards of village access and conduct a district consultation exercise on this basis. Details of the case were set out in an Information Paper No. CB(1)1911/08-09(02), which was submitted to the Legislative Council Panel on Environmental Affairs Subcommittee on Combating Fly-tipping (the Subcommittee) by the Lands Department (LandsD) on June 12, 2009. The Administration attended the Subcommittee meeting on June 15, 2009 for discussion on this case.

My reply to the four-part question is as follows:

(a) In the past, GLLs were issued to regularize squatters in the rural areas of the New Territories or other specific purposes. However, GLLs are rarely issued nowadays. According to the existing government policy, vacant government land which is not required for development in the near future may, where appropriate, be made available for temporary use through a short term tenancy (STT). To effect better land control, old GLLs will be converted to STTs gradually if deemed appropriate. If unauthorized occupation of government land is detected, LandsD may regularise this through the issue of modified or new STTs (or modified GLLs) to the occupants. Information on cases completed by the District Lands Offices concerning the regularisation of enlargement of tenancy areas by STTs since early 2007 is shown in Annex.

(b) In general, if government land being occupied without authorization is not required for other development in the near future, and an application for regularising its unauthorized occupation through the modification of an STT (or modification of a GLL) or issue of a new STT is not violating other existing government policies, the District Lands Offices may consider approving the application to regularise the unauthorized occupation. This is a pragmatic way of resolving the problem of unauthorized occupation of government land and obviates the need for deploying considerable manpower in conducting inspections to prevent the re-occupation of such land.

(c) In handling cases of unauthorized occupation of government land, the District Lands Offices normally consult the departments concerned (Planning, Buildings, Transport, Highways and Drainage Services Departments, etc) and the relevant District Officers for comments. When no objection is received, the District Lands Officers may consider approving such applications. For STTs issued through the regularisation approach, market rent is generally charged.

(d) When invited by the District Lands Officers to conduct consultation on cases of regularization of unauthorized occupation of government land, the District Officers will seek the views of the local community having regard to the specific circumstances of individual cases. The District Officers will, as requested by the District Lands Officers, also co-ordinate the different views involved.

Ends/Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:31

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