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necessary repair works. In the remaining case the repairs were
carried out on receipt of the notice of intention to issue the Certificate
of Disrepair. Cancellation certificates were issued in respect
of three properties.
Housing repair work has followed the pattern of recent years
and the efforts of the department have been fairly successful.
There is, however, a fairly large number of houses in the
district upon which the effects of the Rent Act, 1957 or the opportunities
for improvement by way of grant aid appear to make
little impression.
Reference has been made in previous years to this type of
house occupied in the main by tenants of long standing and
forming a range of substandard housing accommodation in respect
of which it would appear only time will provide a remedy.
Although not "unfit" these houses fall far short of what is
now recognised as the standard acceptable to the modern housewife.
The owners appear to have little interest except to sell with
vacant possession at the first opportunity and it is becoming clear
therefore that the period is drawing to a close when the private
landlord will own and let cottage property for investment purposes.
In the meantime unless housing standards are improved legally
or other forms of redevelopment are initiated, this class of property
will lag behind in satisfying the demand for better housing.
During the year Discretionary Improvement Grants were made
in respect of four houses where improvement works were carried
out to the total value of £1,801.
In all cases 50% grants were made and a high standard of
improvement was achieved.
WATER SUPPLY
The water supply of the district is provided by The Sutton
District Water Company and The East Surrey Water Company
from deep wells or borings in the chalk.
The water is softened and chlorinated and all houses in the
District are provided with a direct supply.
There are no private wells in the District with the exception
of one at Cane Hill Hospital which is used to supplement the
public supply.
Routine samples of the treated water in public supply were
submitted quarterly for bacteriological and chemical examination.
In all 16 samples were taken for bacteriological examination and 8
samples for chemical examination with satisfactory results in
each case.
In addition, both the Water Companies and Local Authorities
sharing these public supplies provided the Department with copies
of reports on the samples taken by them.
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