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Authority) before any application for planning permission involving
change of use of premises from use as a dwelling is determined.
Such consultations are designed to prevent any unnecessary
aggravation of the housing situation by the encroachment of
business premises into residential property.
Housing Survey.—Through the courtesy of Mr. F. H. Dore,
the Housing Manager, the following extracts are quoted from his
observations on the housing position in 1962 :—
"I am pleased to be abe to report a year of continued progress
in the work associated with housing. 74 new dwellings were
completed and handed over for letting, included in which were 54
flats and maisonettes in the Burney Street-Gloucester Circus area,
the "MARIBOR" Estate named after the twin town of that name
in Yugoslavia with which Greenwich is linked.
In pursuance of the Council's policy of acquisition of underoccupied dwellings in which Group B housing applicants are living,
and the acquisition of suitable vacant properties offered for sale
in the open market, many dwellings have been inspected and purchased where considered suitable. Some of the properties are
being given a new lease of life by virtue of the improvement and
repair works carried out by the Council. It is the Council's policy
to acquire dilapidated properties, under suitable circumstances, to
prevent their rapid decline into unfit houses. Other properties
acquired for site redevelopment are given minimum repair works
sufficient to make them reasonably habitable until the site is
required for the erection of new dwellings.
At the latter end of the year the completion took place of
conversion work to the first of three large houses adjoining each
other in Hervey Road. These houses have been acquired and
converted into single room flatlets for elderly persons, the whole
scheme providing 23 flatlets plus warden's flat. Central heating
provides background warmth, each room having a panel fire for
additional warmth to personal requirements. Toilet and bathrooms
are provided on a sharing basis and cleaning of these rooms plus
the entrance halls and staircases is undertaken by the Council. The
elderly tenants look after themselves in comfortable surroundings
safe in the knowledge that the warden is at hand to help them
should they need assistance at any time.
The year saw the demolition of the last of the temporary hutments erected at the end of the war for the emergency rehousing of
bombed-out and homeless families. These hutments were not
equipped to the standard of "prefabricated" bungalow type dwellings which still attract the smaller families. Although the hut-