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68
HOUSING
General Improvement Area
This area was declared by the Council under Section 28 of the Housing Act, 1969,
and is shown on the map included in this report.
The area contains 302 properties of which 265 are used for habitation. There is, in
addition, a school building and two modern blocks owned by the Council containing 20
self-contained flats.
All the properties in the area have been surveyed and every endeavour is being made
to persuade owners to improve their properties where possible by converting them into
self-contained dwellings with the aid of improvement grants. Since the area became
operative, grant aided works have been completed in respect of 8 properties for the
provision of 11 dwellings; work is in progress in respect of 21 properties for the provision of
135 dwellings; and applications in respect of a further nine properties for the provision of
40 dwellings were being dealt with at the end of the year.
Initially, progress was not as rapid as was originally hoped and where no action had
been taken by owners to bring their properties up to a satisfactory standard, the Council
decided to implement their statutory powers under the Housing Acts to secure the
minimum repairs and improvements to those houses in multiple occupation. Many of these
properties had been inspected prior to the declaration of the area and notices had been
served under the Housing Acts. These inspections continued during the year, and the
following is a summary of the total number of notices which have been served in respect of
properties in the area:—
Housing Act, 1957
Section 9 120
Housing Act, 1961
Section 16 119
Section 15 110
Section 14 11
Management Orders made 9
Qualification Certificates
The following shows the number of applications for qualification certificates
(Housing Act, 1969) dealt with during the year-
Applications under Section 44(1) — to provide amenities
Applications received 163
Qualification Certificates issued 265
Qualification Certificates refused 50
Applications under Section 44(2) — amenities provided
Applications received 96
Provisional Certificates issued 37
Provisional Certificates refused Nil
Qualification Certificates issued 19
Grants for the Improvement or Conversion of Private Dwellings
Standard Grants
Nineteen applications for standard grants were approved by the Council during
1971, compared with twenty-two applications for the previous year.
Improvement (Discretionary) Grants
The number of applications for improvement (discretionary) grants dealt with
continued to increase during the year and by the end of July the average number received