The Hong Kong government announced on Thursday that it will not challenge a court decision that invalidated the environmental approval for a major housing development. The project, which aimed to build 12,000 public housing flats on a portion of the Hong Kong Golf Club’s historic course in Fanling, has faced significant legal and environmental hurdles.

The decision follows a ruling by the Court of Appeal, which upheld an earlier judgment to overturn the conditional approval previously granted by the Environmental Protection Department. Government officials stated that the decision to abandon the appeal was made after a "holistic" review of legal advice regarding the case.

This development creates uncertainty for the government's long-term land supply strategy, which has frequently looked toward underutilized recreational land to address the city's chronic housing shortage. While the government has not yet detailed its next steps for the site, the abandonment of the appeal marks a significant victory for opponents of the project, who had argued that the development would cause irreversible damage to the local ecosystem and heritage site. The golf club has maintained that the land serves as an important ecological corridor, while housing advocates have criticized the decision as a setback for families waiting for public housing.