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view of some practical problems and the small populationto be served by these village houses, the FSD hasproposed to set a criterion of requiring a development often houses or more as a major or * large' development toinclude the provision of an EVA. When such developmentsrequire planning permission, this criterion would becomea necessary condition when such development isrecommended by the Planning Department to the TownPlanning Board for its consideration. The governmentdepartments concerned have yet to resolve this particularissue.7. At present, there is no legislation whichstipulates EVA requirements nor is there any statutoryrequirement for redevelopment projects without a changein the lease conditions to be provided with EVAs to theDirector of Fire Services (D of FS) ' or the BuildingAuthority (BA)'s satisfaction. (Under Section 2 of theBuildings Ordinance, Cap. 123, BA means the Director ofBuildings.)Approval of Building Plans - Private/Public SectorBuildings8. Prior to 1964, building plans were not requiredto be submitted to the FSD for examination and approval.In 1964, Section 16(1)(b) was added to the BuildingsOrdinance (BO), Cap. 123, which enabled the D of FS togive his views or to show his concern on the inadequacyor lack of EVAs when building plans were considered andexamined. The current arrangements are that after aprivate developer has submitted a building plan to the BAunder the BO for consideration and approval, theBuildings Department (BD) will circulate the relevantbuilding proposal to relevant government departments forcomments. During this consultation stage, the FSD willtender its advice on the EVA and FSI requirements whereappropriate.9. Under Section 16(1) of the BO, the BA has thepower to refuse to give his approval of any plans ofbuilding works. This legislation does not, however,empower the BA to disapprove building plans because EVAis not available to a site. The BA has from time to timeinvoked the residual planning power under Section16(1) (g) of the BO to restrict development on siteswithout vehicular access. However, such application has- 3