Page 11 - Town Planning Board Report 2015-2017

Part 1 Establishment and Functions Town Planning Board Report 2015 - 2017 9

Planning Committees

Establishment and Functions
With the expansion of statutory planning jurisdiction/coverage to the non-
urban areas and to cope with the increase in the Board’s workload, two Planning
Committees, the Metro Planning Committee (MPC) and the Rural and New Town
Planning Committee (RNTPC), were set up in July 1991.

The Board has, under section 2(5)(a) of the Ordinance, delegated the following
powers and functions to the two Committees:

• to prepare draft OZPs and DPA Plans under section 3 and section 4(1);

• to consider and approve Master Layout Plans (MLPs) and their subsequent
amendments in respect of Comprehensive Development Areas under section
4A;

• to publish draft plans and amendments to approved plans upon reference back
by the CE in C under section 5;

• to make and publish amendments to draft plans under sections 7(1) to 7(3);

• to consider and decide on applications for amendment of plan under section
12A;

• to consider and decide on applications for planning permission under section
16;

• to consider and decide on applications for amendments to planning permission
under section 16A; and

• to designate DPAs under section 20(1) of the Ordinance.

Membership

All Members of the Committees are appointed by the CE from Members of the
Board in accordance with section 2(3) of the Ordinance. The CE also appoints a
Chairperson and Vice-chairperson for each Committee. In 2017, there were 17
members (four official and 13 non-official) and 18 members (four official and 14
non-official) on the MPC and RNTPC respectively, other than the Chairperson and
Vice-chairperson. The two Committees were served by a Secretary who was a
public officer.

Meetings

The two Committees meet regularly to discharge their functions, usually on the
other Fridays of each month when there is no meeting of the Board. The meeting of
the MPC is held in the morning while that of the RNTPC is held in the afternoon. A
total each of 23, 24 and 23 MPC and RNTPC meetings were held in 2015, 2016 and
2017 respectively.