Urban Council, Hong Kong

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Symbol of the Urban Council from its inception in the 1960s until its abolishment in 1999.

The Urban Council's service area (in pink).

The Urban Council ran numerous public services including public libraries. Shown here is the logo of the Urban Council Public Library Reading Programme, a reading programme in the 1990s which provided gifts as incentives for children to read, based on the number of books they borrowed and read.

The Urban Council (UrbCo, Chinese: 市政局) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the Urban Services Department. The equivalent body for the New Territories was the Regional Council.

[edit] History

The Urban Council was first established as the Sanitary Board in 1883. In 1887, a system of partial elections was established, allowing selected individuals to vote for members on the board. The council gained its name in 1936.

After the Second World War, the Urban Council received its pre-war form but without any elected members. Only in 1952 were elelections returned to the Urban Council when two members were elected. Finally in 1956 half of the members of the Urban Council was elected by a small minority of the population eligible to vote. The qualifications for eligibility were very complex: For example, a voter had to be at least 21 years of age, have lived in Hong Kong for at least 3 years and must be qualified in at least one of 23 categories, which included educational qualifications (School Certificate Examination or equivalent), be a juror, salaried taxpayer, or a member of certain professional organizations. More details can be found in First Schedule of the Urban Council Ordinance (Cap. 101)^[1]. It was estimated that in 1970 there were 250,000 eligible voters ^[2] and in 1981 the number had increased to 400,000 – 500,000 ^[3].

In 1973 the council achieved financial autonomy, which meant that the budget could be planned without the approval of the Legislative Council. Furthermore the changes also removed housing as one of its main tasks.

Source: Norman Miners, 1986, The Government and Politics of Hong Kong p. 167.

Prominent elected Urban Councilors were Elsie Elliot (now called Elsie Tu) and Brook Bernacchi of the Reform Club.

An equivalent body, the Regional Council was set up in 1986 to serve the New Territories (excluding New Kowloon).

In 1994 the Council became fully elected based on universal and equal adult suffrage ^[4]..

After the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, the name was changed to Provisional Urban Council, consisting of members of the pre-handover UrbCo, and new members appointed by the Chief Executive.

[edit] Demise

The elected body, together with the Provisional Regional Council (its equivalent in the New Territories), was dissolved on 31 December 1999 under the then-Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa's plan to streamline and centralize municipal services as part of his government's policy reforms.

The functions of the two councils were replaced by two newly-established government departments, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Norman Miners. 1981. The Government and Politics of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
2. ^ “Elected Urbco protest over reform plan,” in: South China Morning Post, 1970
3. ^ “Sing Tao Jih Pao,” in Hong Kong Standard, March 8, 1981
4. ^ CACV 1/2000

[edit] External links

• Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
• Leisure and Cultural Services Department
• Urban Council of Hongkong (Hong Kong Standard, Oct 26, 1978)