Page 61 - TPB Report 2018-20_EN

Town Planning Board Guidelines

The Board promulgated three revised set of Town Planning Board Guidelines in 2018 to 2020. The sets
of guidelines in force in 2020 remains as 32.

Revised Town Planning Board Guidelines on Class A and Class B Amendments to
Approved Development Proposals (TPB PG-No. 36B)

The Board on 2 March 2018 promulgated the revised set of Guidelines to provide clarity to users and
simplify the procedural matters whilst safeguarding the interests of the general public. Revisions were
made to the Schedule of Class A and Class B amendments mainly to allow greater flexibility for change
in site area, gross floor area, number of units, parking requirements/layout, provision of private open
space and utility installation, delete control on unit size, and stipulate control on location and size of
setback and BG in addition to NBA, taking into account the changing planning circumstances and
feedback from stakeholders.

Revised Town Planning Board Guidelines on Submission and Publication of
Representations, Comments and Further Representations (TPB PG-No. 29B)

The Board on 26 November 2018 promulgated the revised set of Guidelines to enhance the efficiency
in processing representations, comments and further representations. A representer, commenter or

further representer, or his/her authorised representative was required to provide information regarding
his/her identity for verification purposes, and a correspondence or email address for receipt of documents
issued by the Board. If no correspondence or email address is provided, they would need to check the
relevant information on the Board’s website and contact the Secretariat of the Board for arrangement
to attend the hearing.

Revised Town Planning Board Guidelines for Application for Open Storage and Port
Back-up Uses (TPB PG-No. 13F)

The Board on 27 March 2020 promulgated the revised set of Guidelines and the coverage was
updated to include all areas covered by rural statutory plans. Taking into account the latest planning
circumstances and the findings of the ‘Study on Existing Profile and Operations of Brownfield Sites in
the New Territories’, the site classification of land under the Guidelines was reviewed and re-classified
with a view to channelising open storage/port back-up (OS/PBU) uses to more appropriate locations
and to reflect various completed developments and updated zonings of the sites. For NDAs, the

existing OS/PBU uses permitted under the previous plans or with previous planning permissions are
generally allowed to continue until the implementation of the NDAs, but new applications for OS/PBU
use would normally be rejected unless under exceptional circumstances.

TOWN PLANNING BOARD REPORT 2018-2020 59