Court rejects appeal on Fanling Golf Course assessment

The Court of Appeal has rejected the government's appeal against a 2024 ruling that invalidated the environmental approval for a public housing development on a portion of the Fanling Golf Course. In 2023, the government had resumed 32 hectares of the 172-hectare golf course, intending to construct 9.5 hectares of public housing.

A three-judge panel, led by Chief Judge Jeremy Poon, affirmed the initial Court of First Instance's decision that the Director of Environmental Protection improperly approved the project's environmental impact assessment (EIA) report. The government had claimed the judicial review was academic, referring to a June 2023 amendment that excluded the project from requiring such assessments.

However, the judges maintained the approval's living status, as the EIA report could still be used for other purposes. They noted that the consultation process was inadequate, as it failed to consider supplementary information added to the EIA report and responses from the golf club. The judges also criticized the conditions attached to the approval, which they deemed to necessitate a substantial redesign, falling outside the permissible scope.

They found the EIA report's treatment of protected trees and the impact on the historic Old Course, China's oldest golf course, to be irrational and undetermined. The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) were ordered to pay the golf club's costs for the dismissed appeal.