The Government today announced its decision not to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s recent judgment in relation to a judicial review of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report on the development of public housing on a former area of Fanling Golf Course.

It said its decision was made after holistic consideration of legal advice and other assessments.

The Court of Appeal’s judgment upheld that of the Court of First Instance, which quashed the decision of the Director of Environmental Protection to approve the project’s EIA report.

The Government said the judgment provided legal clarity on issues including applicable criteria under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance, statutory public consultation procedures for additional information relating to an EIA report, and procedural fairness.

It added that the Court of Appeal’s judgment clarified a number of important legal principles under Hong Kong’s EIA regime, including that not all additional information outside of an EIA report is required to be included in the statutory public consultation process: rather, this depends on the circumstances of each case. 

In respect of the judicial review, the court considered that the original EIA report contained deficiencies which could have been rectified by providing additional information.

It said that, based on the principle of fairness, it was necessary to conduct a further but limited public consultation in relation to the additional information.

The Environmental Protection Department will study the legal guidance set out in the judgment carefully and will strictly adhere to the relevant ordinance and the legal principles established by the court in carrying out EIA approval work in the future. In doing so, it aims to uphold the reasonableness, legality, transparency and credibility of Hong Kong's EIA regime.

As the judgment overturned the approval granted by the Director of Environmental Protection to the EIA report, the Government said it will review the way forward for the proposed public housing at the site, including impacts on the scale and timing of the development resulting from the report’s non-approval.

The Government said it will announce a way forward at an appropriate time.