The main object of the Bill is to set up an independent Authority to be known as the Planning Authority, with functions and powers to ensure that development takes place only according to development plans, that is a structure plan and its subsidiary plans.

The Bill provides for the administrative arrangements necessary for the preparation of the development plans and for their implementation and enforcement. Care has been taken to give access to public opinion both in the preparation and in the implementation of the plans; and provision has been made for appeals from decisions of the Authority on matters of development control and its enforcement.

The Bill replaces entirely Part I of the Code of Police Laws, the Building Permits (Temporary Provisions) Act 1988 and what is still in force of the Development Areas Act, 1983. It also provides for the replacement of Part V of the Code of Police Laws and incorporates the essential provisions of the Aesthetic Buildings Ordinance.