Golf course ruling will not have ‘huge impact’ on Hong Kong’s housing supply: John Lee

A court ruling against the approval for a development plan on a golf club course will not have a great impact on Hong Kong’s overall housing supply, but authorities must study how the project will be affected, the chief executive has said.

But city leader John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday the High Court’s decision to overturn environmental authorities’ conditional approval for building 12,000 public flats on the Hong Kong Golf Club would significantly affect the project, which was expected to be completed by 2029.

He emphasised that the housing development on 9.5 hectares (23.5 acres) of the 172-hectare course in Fanling was proposed by the previous government.

“Now that the environmental assessment report is overturned, the government must do a comprehensive assessment and public consultation again,” he said ahead of a weekly meeting of the government’s key decision-making Executive Council.

“This will greatly affect the number of flats, the density and the completion date of the project.”

However, he assured that Hong Kong’s long-term housing goal of constructing 300,800 homes over the next decade was still on track.

“The government has sourced enough land to construct more than 308,000 units,” he said.