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Ernest Kao

Residents in Jardine's Lookout scored a small victory yesterday after an amended proposal to expand a church compound on Mount Butler failed to win support from district councillors.
Two dozen members of the Jardine's Lookout Concern Group staged a small protest before Wan Chai District Council discussed the plan.
David Lai Tai-wai, the area's councillor, said residents had not been properly consulted about the proposal by the Sheng Kung Hui, the local Anglican group.
Lai said any development would worsen traffic on Mount Butler Road, which is already brought to a standstill every morning because cars are parked outside the elite Braemar Hill Nursery School.
"The traffic problem is already very serious. Even the Transport Department agreed that it underestimated the impact of traffic from Braemar Hill Nursery when it moved there," said Lai. "The situation will be worse with hundreds more pupils in the area."
Resident Cheng Kit-ying feared that traffic could prevent emergency vehicles from passing.
The church has a two-storey kindergarten in the area. It acquired three more plots in a land swap approved by the government in 2011. The proposal was first presented to the council that year.
The group wants to expand its facilities, with the Mount Butler site meant to "reduce development intensity" at its heritage-graded compound in Central.
Following opposition, it reduced the plot from 12,000 sq m to 8,500 sq m. Measures to alleviate traffic concerns included internal drop-off and pick-up areas and maintaining a 70 per cent quota of pupils using its school bus service.
Dr Jeffrey Pong Chiu-fai, another district councillor opposing the plan, said the council had only been informed of the amendments on April 20.
Sheng Kung Hui provincial secretary general, the Reverend Peter Douglas Koon, said the plan had been on hold for too many years and it was "unfair" that traffic problems from the Braemar Hill Nursery were applied to them.
The Development Bureau and the Transport Department expressed satisfaction with the church's amended plan.


Sheng Kung Hui development plan in Hong Kong fails to win council backing

Wan Chai District councillor David Lai said any development would worsen traffic on Mount Butler Road, which is already brought to a standstill every morning because cars are parked outside Braemar Hill Nursery School (above). Photo: SCMP

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Residents in Jardine's Lookout scored a small victory after an amended proposal to expand a church compound on Mount Butler failed to win support from district councillors.
