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The many cases where grants are made, works of repair and
improvement not eligible for grant are carried out, so that the
general standard of housing is greatly improved.
Eighty dwellings, many of them recently acquired by the applicants,
have been improved in various ways with grants averaging
£212, 5.0. per house. Of this sum £53. 1.3. is borne by the
Council, the remainder is recovered from the Exchequer. Without
this encouragement it is unlikely that in the majority of cases the
improvement would have taken place or at least not in such a comprehensive
or thorough manner. The effect must be an increase in wellbeing
and good health within the community.
In addition to the improvement work undertaken by private owners
referred to above, the Council's schemes prepared by the Borough
Engineer and Surveyor for modernising 24 flats in Athelstan House,
Athelstan Road, Kingston upon Thames, and 12 flats in Dryland House,
Fairfield North, Kingston upon Thames, have been approved by the
Minister of Housing and Local Government for Exchequer contribution.
"Our Older Homes- A call for action" (The Pennington Report),
This is the title to a Report of the sub-committee appointed
by the Central Housing Advisory Committee in 1965, "to consider the
practicability of specifying objective criteria for the purposes of
slum clearance, rectification of disrepair and other housing powers
relating to minimum tolerable standards of housing accommodation;
and to make recommendations.
The Report is refreshingly clear in its detail and conclusions,
largely because the Committee has reviewed as a whole the various
standards used by Local Authorities to determine fitness, of houses.
The Report contains recommendations for a new standard for a
satisfactory dwelling which amplifies the present twelve point
standard of eligibility for a discretionary improvement grant and
lesser standards specifying five and three point scales for houses
in poorer condition.