The Hong Kong government has said it will not appeal a court ruling that overturned approval for building 12,000 public rental flats on part of the historic Fanling Golf Course.
The Fanling Golf Course. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.The government said on Thursday that it would not launch a further appeal “having holistically considered legal advice and conducted a cautious assessment,” after losing the case at the Court of First Instance in 2024 and again at the Court of Appeal last month.
It will review the proposed public housing plan on a 9.5-hectare plot of land within the 32 hectares that the government took back from the 172-hectare Fanling Golf Course in 2023.
“The Government will announce the way forward at an appropriate time,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
The case stemmed from a legal challenge launched by the Hong Kong Golf Club, which operates the Fanling Golf Course, against the government’s approval of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report that greenlighted the public housing development.
The Hong Kong Golf Club argued that there was a lack of public consultation when the authorities included additional information in the EIA report, and in 2024 the High Court ruled in favour of the private golf club.
Fanling golf course. Photo: Wikicommons.The government launched an appeal against the ruling but lost again at the Court of Appeal last month, with a three-judge panel saying that there was “unfairness” in the consultation process.
“[The new information]… was material that ought to have been but was not included in the EIA report for public inspection,” the Court of Appeal judgement read.
“The failure to remedy this deficiency by holding a further consultation meant that there was unfairness in the consultation overall,” it added.
The government said on Thursday that the ruling had clarified that not all information added to an EIA report necessitates further public consultation – rather, it will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
The Environmental Protection Department will study the ruling and maintain the “reasonableness, legality, transparency and credibility” of the EIA regime, it added.
Chief Executive John Lee had said that the setback with the Fanling Golf Course public housing plan would not significantly impact supply.
Housing chief Winnie Ho said on Wednesday that the government was confident that the average waiting time for a public rental flat could be reduced to 4.5 years before the current administration’s term ends in June next year.
The average waiting time for a public rental flat stood at 4.8 years as of last month, according to official figures.
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