View report page

Slum Clearance and Individual Unfit Houses
Two clearance areas comprising 23 dwelling houses were reported to the Council
as unfit for human habitation. These areas formed part of the larger areas of
proposed redevelopment included in the Council's Clearance and Redevelopment
Programme and were dealt with by Compulsory Purchase Orders.
Six Orders comprising 67 properties represented as unfit were confirmed by
the Minister of Housing and Local Government.
The number of dwelling houses demolished in areas subject to Compulsory
Purchase Orders was 298.
A Closing Order was made on the basement rooms of one property.
Acquisition and Improvement of Houses
The Housing Acts, 1958-64, and Amending Regulations, provide, inter alia,
that a local authority may (a) make advances for the purpose of acquiring houses,
and for altering, enlarging, repairing or improving houses; (b) make grants for the
provision of houses by the conversion of buildings and for the improvement of
dwellings.
The Town Clerk, in co-operation with the Borough Treasurer and the Borough
Valuer, deals with applications for advances for house purchase, and I understand
from him that 299 applications were approved, the sum advanced amounting to
£1,041,240.
The Health Department supplies the Borough Valuer with any known history
of a property and any other information which may assist in the valuation. Where
claims of overcrowding are made in support of an application for mortgage these
claims are investigated by the department.
Owners of dwelling houses may obtain a loan or grant from the local authority
towards the cost of works of alteration or improvement but such loans or grants are
at the discretion of the local authority.
The House Purchase and Housing Acts, 1958 and 1959, designed to supplement
the previous grant provisions, enable local authorities to make advances for house
purchase up to the full value of the property. These Acts also place a duty on them
to make standard grants towards the cost of provision of a fixed bath or shower in
a bathroom, a wash-hand-basin, a hot water supply, a water closet, and satisfactory
facilities for storing food where these are not provided in houses which have a
minimum life of fifteen years.
The Council provides Standard and Discretionary Grants for the improvement
of dwellings. During 1968, 223 applications for grants were received and 223
houses were improved, twenty with Discretionary Grants and 203 with Standard
Grants. All the Standard Grants were for the full standard of amenities.
97