View report page

94
procedure each year in each borough and as to which of these houses
should be dealt with by the County Council and the Borough Councils
respectively.
The programme for Lewisham was as follows:—

In his report for 1955 upon work under the Housing Acts, the
Health Inspector-in-charge of housing work stated:
"The survey of older properties in the borough, started during
1954, was completed early in the year. In cases where action was found
to be necessary, a classification was made under the Housing Act, 1936
indicating that 667 properties required repair and 159 properties closure
or demolition. From this survey, together with previous knowledge
and records in the department, the programme required by the Ministry
of Housing and Local Government under the Housing Repairs and Rents
Act, 1954 was compiled and recommended for action in the five years
1956-60. Under this 12 properties were regarded as fit for demolition
as individual units, and 147 properties as fit for demolition in 10 clearance
areas."
Continuing on with clearance area work:
Inspections of houses included in the clearance area programme
for the years 1956/60 were begun. The selection of areas to be dealt
with and the order of priority was based on knowledge available in the
department in relation to degree of unfitness. As a result preliminary
work was completed prior to representation under section 25 of two
areas, with a total of 35 houses."
In 1960 the Health Inspector concerned with housing was able to
report that
"The last group of houses in the Council's clearance area programme
for 1956/60 had been represented at the end of 1959. An additional
group of three houses was represented during 1960 and