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Housing.—Demolition orders were made under Section 19 of
the Housing Act, 1930, with respect to 15 houses. An appeal was
entered on behalf of the owners against these Orders but this, after
protracted negotiations, was eventually withdrawn. Eight other
houses were represented as unfit for human habitation, but the
owner submitted proposals for reconditioning which were approved
by the Council, the houses being put into a reasonable state of
repair and additional yard space being provided.
Altogether 96 houses have been represented as unfit for human
habitation since 1930 when the five years' plan was drawn up,
fifteen more than was originally estimated. Arising out of these
representations there were 57 Demolition Orders, 22 undertakings
from owners not to re-let the houses for human habitation and
17 houses were reconditioned. Six houses were voluntarily
demolished prior to definite action being taken by the Council.
During the year 233 other houses were re-conditioned making
a total of 824, this number being one short of the total of 825
estimated in 1930 to be dealt with in five years.
Housing Act, 1935.—The duty which devolved upon the
Local Authority under Section 1 of this Act of making an inspection
of the district with a view to ascertaining what dwelling-houses
were overcrowded was undertaken at the earliest possible date
and the appended report which was submitted to the Borough
Council on the completion of the survey gives a full account of
the work involved and of the results obtained. In this report
it will be seen that the whole of the working-class houses in the
Borough numbering 15,234 came under review and that 2.06
of these were found to be overcrowded.