wgeoff

I will check this out with the locals when I go tomorrow.

However, I think the lady may be putting 1+1 together and getting 3.

The survey has been done over the inhabited part of the island also, including the area around the jetty, the restaurant and the toilet block. I presume this would not be included in a golf course although with sufficient compensation, I'm sure the locals will sell their plots. I heard the survey was being done by the Lands Department to update their survey maps which were last done in 1903, and was happening all over the less well surveyed part of the New Territories.

There has been a dispute over the area around the cafe which the lady operates, apparently a company was set up with the thought of building a golf course around there and obtained several loans by mortgaging the land which they had rights to. They did not pay back the loans and the courts transferred the land to the loan companies as compensation.

I hope she is mixing these two separate events together, but it is certainly worth checking out as Mike Leven suggests. It is possible the companies which have now acquired the land want to redevelop it but surely they will need some sort of planning permission to do anything major?

wgeoff

My contact on Po Toi told me that the original land owner did intend to build a golf course but he went bankrupt and the land was transferred to his creditors, and it was not yet known what they intend to do with it.  

I don't know if this is any more reliable than the lady who Bill spoke to. However, I did look around the land again this week and came to much the same conclusion as I did some time ago. I do not believe it is possible to build a golf course in the area under question for the following reasons

1. It is too small an area, you need about 4x the area for a full-sized course. Also the terrain is not suitable, steep sides covered with rocky boulders which would be very difficult and expensive to convert to flattish grass. Only the football field and the valley floor are flat land. This land is nothing like Sham Chung.

2. The plots which were transferred in the High Court case appear on a Lot Index Plan which I have a copy of. There are large gaps between plots which presumably are still government owned which must make it difficult to develop as a whole.

This leaves the possibility of a mini- course or a driving range. Even a mini course will have the same development problems as above. For a driving range, only the valley floor is long and flat enough - the football field is only 70 metres long - but according to the court reports, this single plot is not included and anyway is very narrow for a driving range.

Personally, I doubt whether any golfing development is economically viable. But the new owners will presumably want to do something with their new land if they can. So if it is possible to create some sanctaury for Po Toi, I suggest we try to do it.

wgeoff

Just to keep you updated.

The new owners of this land are now trying to sell it, presumably because they don't think it's worth developing.

I don't think they will find a buyer, I can't think of any project which would make economic sense on this land.

However, HKBWS Conservation Committee are now following this and will take whatever action they think appropriate.