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Fiona Sun

Disabled residents and a former lawmaker have slammed Hong Kong’s town planning authorities for failing to consider accessibility needs and overlooking potential fire safety risks in an approved development plan for Wan Chai, calling for a review to make the area more barrier-free.
Former social welfare sector lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen said on Thursday that the Town Planning Board-approved, high-density development plan covering Sau Wa Fong and Nam Koo Terrace failed to take into account its impact on those in need.
St Francis Street is a major thoroughfare in the neighbourhood connecting Queen’s Road East to the Starstreet Precinct, but its steep and narrow one-way path already poses barriers to residents with disabilities, including those using wheelchairs.
Tik noted the development under the Wan Chai Outline Zoning Plan would have more than 500 flats, and warned that the influx of residents could worsen traffic congestion on the street and heighten safety risks in the event of a fire.
He added that a planned barrier-free lift connecting Sau Wa Fong and St Francis Street would only take residents to the sloping street, meaning that the area would remain inaccessible to those with disabilities.
He said the designs violated the Disability Discrimination Ordinance and the principles of universal design intended to create a barrier-free environment.
“This project has created an undesirable precedent. The government only looked at one aspect of the development,” said Tik, who is also chairman of the Third Side party.
“True accessibility requires comprehensive and convenient access. Otherwise, the Disability Discrimination Ordinance and universal design are just empty words or even ‘toothless tigers’.”


Tik called on authorities to re-examine the development plan, taking into account the needs of those with disabilities and protecting residents’ safety.
He also urged the Equal Opportunities Commission, the city’s equality watchdog, to establish clear guidelines for redevelopment projects to ensure that disabled people’s needs were considered, and set up universal design plans for each district.
Wheelchair user Wong Tse-yan said the steep slope on St Francis Street was inaccessible to her, adding that she was also concerned about the potential dangers if a fire broke out in the neighbourhood.
Peter Wong Kam-ho, deputy chief executive officer of the Dialogue In The Dark (HK) Foundation, a charity dedicated to inclusion and equality, said walking on the sloping street during heavy traffic was a challenge for him and other people with visual impairments.
“Walking on slopes is not a problem for me, nor is climbing stairs, but my biggest worry is walking on the street because, as a blind person, I can’t see cars,” he said. “I can hear the cars coming and going fast on this street.”
The South China Morning Post has reached out to the Planning Department for comment.


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Society

Ex-legislator among those calling for review to make development plan covering Sau Wa Fong and Nam Koo Terrace more barrier-free


Ex-legislator among those calling for review to make development plan covering Sau Wa Fong and Nam Koo Terrace more barrier-free.


Urban planning

Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC)

Disability

Town planning body slammed for neglecting disabled people over Wan Chai plan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ex-legislator among those calling for review to make development plan covering Sau Wa Fong and Nam Koo Terrace more barrier-free

Ex-legislator among those calling for review to make development plan covering Sau Wa Fong and Nam Koo Terrace more barrier-free