A lawmaker has called on the government to continue pressing private clubs to follow leasing rules and requiring that they open their facilities for public usage.

Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan conducted a survey on the use of recreational facilities by non-members in the "members only" clubs from March to April.

Private facilities that pay very low rates to operate on government properties are required to offer services to allow certain eligible groups to hold sports activities, including schools, youth groups, welfare organizations and government departments.

Of the 71 private clubs, 38 have been exempted from paying any land premium, while the other 33 have been required to pay a nominal land premium of HK$1,000.

In exchange for these concessions, the rules governing private recreational leases stipulate that the lease holder must permit outside bodies to book its facilities for up to three sessions of three hours each week.

Of 223 respondents to the survey, 90 percent say they were unaware that they had the right of access to private recreational facilities.

For the remaining 10 percent who know the arrangement, 60 percent say they had not successfully used the facilities in the last three years.

Chan blasted the insufficient publicity carried out by the government, resulting in vast wastage of available resources for public access.

On the other hand, 11 out of 71 private clubs responded to the survey.

Eighty percent say they acknowledge the conditions required in the leases and 90 percent say they had lent their facilities more than 10 times in the last three years.

According to the administration, more than 50 private clubs leases are subject to renewal between 2011 and 2012.

"We are hoping the government will eradicate outdated conditions when processing the renewal applications," Chan said.

A paper provided by the government about a Home Affairs panel meeting on May 13 says "the lease conditions for the current leases were drawn up over 15 years ago. Some of the lease conditions may be considered obsolete, such as prohibitions against people from outside bodies using toiletries provided in the changing-rooms of private clubs. We plan to remove such obsolete conditions from all leases."

To allow for more flexibility in the booking of facilities, the government considers replacing "no more than three sessions of three hours a week" with "40 hours a month or more, provided that such use would not interfere with the proper care and maintenance of the lot".

Outside bodies would be allowed to book sports facilities on weekends or public holidays, the paper points out.

However, Chan criticized the government for shirking its responsibility for making outside bodies to approach the clubs directly since all applications are processed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department at present.

"Without the competent authority, it would be very difficult for these organizations to apply directly to private clubs because they don't know the procedures or they may have difficulty in understanding the situations. And at the same time, they may need to pay fees as well," Chan noted, adding that she encouraged the government to continue being the "middle man" of two parties.

The Home Affairs Bureau declined to comment, saying issues will be discussed at a panel meeting on Friday.

China Daily

(HK Edition 05/12/2011 page1)