Town planners are being too picky about Swire's 'toothpick tower' plan for Mid-Levels, a court said yesterday.
They had no right to consider the visual impact and effect on traffic of the development, a three-judge panel ruled.
The Court of Appeal judges upheld a lower court ruling that the Town Planning Board had been wrong to insist on a 12-storey height limit on part of the site of the 50-storey block of flats in Seymour Road, which critics have dubbed a 'toothpick tower'.
A spokeswoman for Swire said it would start work on the tower as soon as possible.
People living near the site of the proposed tower said the court had ridden roughshod over their concerns.
'I am very unhappy about the ruling,' said Elina Li, of Goldwin Heights in Seymour Road.
'The traffic is too heavy here and there are too many construction sites in the area. These cause pollution,' she said.
