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At the end of the year a further area, Coleraine Park (610 dwellings) was under survey with a view to declaration
as a General Improvement Area.
Owing to continuous pressure of work the inspectors have not been able to undertake any specific work to
encourage owners within these areas to improve their dwellings. However by the provision of demonstration
houses in both the Durban and Clonmell Road areas and by the example which an improved dwelling sets for
adjoining properties some success has been achieved.

The aim of the department is to process each application with the minimum delay, but it must be reported that
in line with the increasing flow of applications, the number of outstanding cases has already increased. Which
means that the time required to issue the grant approvals is lengthening. The policy of the department has always
been to give all enquirers maximum assistance and in the majority of cases this entails a visit to the premises with
specific advice on site. In this way the best service is given to the public but it necessarily entails a lot of
professional time.
Grants approved during the year amounted to £348,476 in respect of 628 dwellings. There has been no let-up in
the burden mentioned last year on the technical and administrative staff. In the last quarter of the year the
Management Services O. & M. section commenced a survey of the Environmental Health Division and an interim
report on the Improvement Grant Section recommended an additional 4 inspectors to cope with the present work
load in that section. There has been no improvement in the very inconvenient and limited office accommodation.
Out of a total of approximately 90,000 dwellings in the Borough it is estimated that there are about 30,000 which
are lacking in the exclusive use of one or more of the basic amenities. In pursuance of the objective of securing
to each household a self-contained dwelling in good repair and provided with all the basic amenities for the
exclusive use of the occupants, the department is encouraged by the number and quality of the improvements and
conversions which are being carried out. A significant start has been achieved and all the signs are that there will
be an ever increasing rate of improvements particularly with the aid of grant. Especially heartening is the
conversion and repair of properties previously either in serious disrepair or manifesting the worst conditions
associated with some houses in multiple occupation. The task facing the Council and this department is enormous
but if the Council are able to provide adequate staff resources, the financial inducements of the grant scheme are
expected to make considerable in-roads into the housing deficiencies.
Table I shows the grants approved in Haringey by the Public Health Department during the year ended 31 March
1971 under sections 2 and 8 of the Housing Act 1969, but does not include improvements and conversions carried
out by or under arrangements with housing associations under Section 121 of the Housing Act 1957 which
responsibility rests with the Borough Valuer and Estates Surveyor. Table IV at the end of this report gives details
provided by the Borough Valuer and Estates Surveyor of conversions completed during the year 1971/72 by
housing associations under arrangements with Haringey Council. Some housing associations have also carried out
conversions in Haringey in co-operation with the G.L.C. but details of them are not available.
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