Relic of a Bygone Era
Small/Village Houses of the N.T.
Prior to the 1960s, sons of N.T. villagers simply built their own homes on available land near their parents. However, as designated land was depleted, they were required to bid, at auction, for Crown Land. As land values rose, District Officers tried to ease their burden by holding auctions in remote locations and/or offering them “temporary structure” permits but these measures could not ultimately solve the problem. By the early 1970s, the situation was deemed inequitable and totally unsatisfactory by the Heung Yee Kuk (representing the indigenous villagers of the N.T.).
In discussions with the Colonial Government of the early 1970s, the Heung Yee Kuk pleaded for the traditional rights of villagers, which were interpreted as the right to live on the sites of their ancestors’ homes, to construct dwellings there and to maintain traditional burial sites. Maintaining tradition and culture were the key elements in all discussions. Villagers, continuing their patrilineal tradition, asked for simplified means to apply for house plots in their own village (“ding” rights) for their sons. The daughter was assumed to marry and live in her husband’s village. Not surprisingly, in designing the Small House Policy (SHP) of 1972, the government happily acquiesced to tradition because it limited the number of potential applications and ensured they were within village boundaries.
Tradition has, however, apparently lost ground to economic considerations as former fung shui woods continue to be bulldozed, many village houses are still rented or sold to non-indigenous people, and groups of villagers keep pooling their ancestral rights to sell their forefathers’ land off in blocks to developers.
Its aims in 1972 to ease the application process for permission to erect a house and to ensure a higher standard of housing in the rural areas have not been fully realized. Implementation of the SHP has numerous problems and its original purpose is outdated.
Rather than the picturesque neat rows of village houses or courtyards with hills in the background and agricultural land in front, today, village houses are now just squeezed in, with no concern for overall aesthetics of the landscape or cultural traditions. In discussion with a local resident, Explore mentioned a new house whose side wall appeared to be no more than three metres from their neighbours’ front door. Asked why villagers no longer seem to care for the appearance of their ancestral home or how their ‘helter-skelter’ building affects their environment, she replied: “Why should we care? When our neighbours were our aunts, uncles and cousins it mattered but now they’ve moved away and the people around us are strangers.”
While strictly following the height and area specifications, the small houses (officially called “New Territories Exempted Houses”) were exempted from the normal Building Ordinance requirement to submit formal plans (including site formation and drainage works) to the Lands Department to make it easier and less costly for indigenous villagers to build. The rules regarding qualifications of builders were also relaxed. Often car parking, access roads and sewage considerations were overlooked, resulting in problems for more than just the original house owner.
The requirements for application can also be subject to abuse. The VR must verify the applicant before submission and older indigenous villagers often have no birth certificates. In the various ICAC cases, close clan ties have seemed more important than adherence to the law.
In 2006, the application waiting time ranged from one to three years depending on the workload, objections received and complexity of the land restrictions, etc. Some applications must go to the Town Planning Board to approve a change in zoning from Green Belt, Conservation Area or the like. Although it causes further delay, this does bring to light issues that badly need resolution. Unfortunately, resolution only takes place one site at a time and often very quietly – since notices for public consultation mysteriously disappear from notice boards as quickly as they are posted. A comprehensive conservation policy regarding the extent and type of development encroaching upon our green spaces is required – not only to preserve our natural heritage but also to decrease administrative time (and taxpayers’ money). In the case of Sai Kung, the future economic driver identified by the SK District Council is tourism; should the rural areas of SK be covered with poorly planned development projects, our tourist potential may not be realized.
Many questions need answers before the SHP can be amended or replaced altogether. It is, understandably a “hot potato” for the government. Numerous working groups have been appointed and, while some small revisions have been made, there is still much work to do to address the major overriding issues of equity and sustainability.
That “relic of a bygone era”, so-named in a 2003 Civic Exchange report, lives on.
Further Reading:
Lands Department: How to Apply for a Small House
Lands Department: Building New Territories Exempted Houses (includes "Guidelines to Apply for Certificate of Exemption" and "Technical Requirements for Critical Structural Elements in the Construction of a NT Exempted House"