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Alice Woodhouse

Activists, hikers and runners have collected more than 3,000 signatures to oppose an "eyesore" elevated driveway on Bowen Road that would link the owner's property to the popular trail.
The owners of 17 Bowen Road are appealing against the Town Planning Board's rejection of their earlier bid to build a driveway on government-owned green-belt land to provide vehicular access to the property. The board is expected to rule on the appeal in January.
The only access to the property currently is a flight of concrete steps.

The Alliance for a Beautiful Hong Kong (ABHK) collected the signatures against the initial application because it feared the plan could create a precedent and an eyesore.
The group is also against the felling of 113 trees to build the driveway and fears increased traffic will endanger people on foot using the well-known route.
"When the Highways Department takes a look at a proposal and they say this is considered a bridge structure, you know it's going to be a massive construction and massive project that was not well illustrated in the application," said Melanie Moore, a member of ABHK.
She said Bowen Road was one of the few trails accessible to runners, families with strollers and the less mobile, as it is flat and easy to get to.
"It's accessible from Mid-Levels, it's accessible from Wan Chai, so there's a huge number of people in a very congested area who can get to it relatively quickly," she said.
A further 850 people have objected through ABHK to the owner's appeal.
The Highways Department says that if the driveway is a bridge, it must be submitted for approval on design and environmental factors. Illustrations provided in the planning application show a raised roadway, supported by 13 stilts joining Bowen Road as it narrows to a pedestrian-only path.
Plans for the new private road give its proposed width as six metres - a third wider than Bowen Road.
The length of the bridge is given as 160 metres.
Government departments also raised concerns about whether the driveway would affect the Bowen Road Aqueduct, which is a declared monument.
The property is owned by the Fung family, of the paper trader Che San & Co, who have owned the land in question since the late 1970s.


Elevated Bowen Road driveway opposed by hikers, runners and activists

Street view of 17 Bowen Road

News

Hong Kong

Owner's bid for vehicular access to Bowen Road property criticised as unsightly intrusion on trail popular with hikers and runners


Activists, hikers and runners have collected more than 3,000 signatures to oppose an "eyesore" elevated driveway on Bowen Road that would link the owner's property to the popular trail.
