Information AboutUrban Council |
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. Shown here is the logo of the Urban Council Public Library Reading Programme, a reading programme in the 1990 s which provided gifts as incentives for children to read, based on the number of books they borrowed and read.]] The Urban Council (UrbCo, 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 is the Regional Council . 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 , and became an elected body comprising representatives from different sectors. Half of the members of the urban council was elected by a small minority of the population eligible to vote. Prominent elected Urban Councilors were Elsie Elliot (now called Elsie Tu) and Brook Bernacchi of the Reform Club . 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. It became a fully elected body with members from Constituencies and District Boards in the early 1980s . An equivalent body, the Regional Council was set up in 1986 to serve the New Territories (excluding New Kowloon ). 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 . 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 . EXTERNAL LINKS
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