Overall Response and Range of Consultees
4.1 Overall, the interest displayed in the Study and the number and range of consultees was very encouraging and certainly beneficial to take the Study forward. The range of individuals and groups which participated in the First Stage Consultation included Statutory and Advisory Boards/Committees; professional institutions; NGOs and interest groups; universities; companies and individual members of the public.
Reception of the Study
4.2 It is gratifying that the Study process was generally well supported and it appears that the public think the Study will provide a useful contribution to better understanding of landscape and planning in Hong Kong.
Relevance of Comments
4.3 It was particularly pleasing to note that consultees seemed generally able to grasp the rather technical and methodological issues addressed in the First Stage Consultation. As might be expected, many consultees responded from the perspective of their own particular interests, which served to illuminate some very specific aspects of the Study.
Range of Responses
4.4 The range of issues encompassed by comments was very wide. Whilst some people were concerned with very specific locales and landscapes in Hong Kong, others were concerned with much more abstract technical issues. The comments received fell broadly into a number of categories, as follows:
comments on technical issues relevant to the Study, including comments on methodology, approach and evaluation;
comments on procedural issues related to consultation;
comments on substantive issues addressed by the Study, including landscapes and features of particular landscape value; and
comments on the application of the Study.
4.5 As anticipated, most of the comments received were on the technical and procedural aspects of the Study: on its methodology and approach. This reflects the fact that hitherto, the work on the Study has been directed towards establishing its methodology.
4.6 A smaller number of consultees addressed one particular issue of the Study: i.e. which landscapes or features are of particular value (or otherwise). This was perhaps to be expected, as the findings presented in the First Stage Consultation were still open. In general, the return on landscape attractions/detractions was perhaps fewer than expected, given that specific questions had been written into the Consultation Digest and Pamphlet to elicit responses on these issues.
4.7 A large number of consultees enquired as to how the findings of the Study would be used, made available or updated, and some actually suggested specific applications of the Study findings, beyond those already identified. However, at this stage, the Study is confined to establishing Hong Kong's baseline condition of landscape resources and providing input for Government's sustainability evaluation.
4.8 Understandably, as in any public consultation exercise, a small number of consultees had raised issues which, although relevant, are not directly within the scope of the Study. For example, a number of consultees raised concerns at the effects of current planning policy on the landscape in particular places, which is an issue outside the scope of the Study.
4.9 The following section of the report sets out in greater detail the key comments raised during the Consultation.
