View report page

99
A fixed bath or shower in a bathroom.
A hot and cold water supply at a fixed bath or shower.
A wash-hand basin.
A hot and cold water supply at a wash-hand basin.
A sink.
A hot and cold water supply at a sink.
A water closet in and accessible from within the dwelling.
The Council is prepared to make generous grants in the form of
Standard or Discretionary Improvement Grants for those owners wishing
to improve or modernise their homes.
The scheme of improving older houses relates essentially to providing
those standard amenities which are absent. An improvement grant may
also be paid towards the cost of providing (by means of an approved
method) a damp-proof course; for improving inadequate natural lighting or
ventilation and for providing adequate facilities for heating where it
does not exist, and in certain cases the Council may allow grant towards
approved repairs and replacements.
Improvement grants may also be given towards the cost of dividing
a large house into self-contained flats, where the Council considers
that the house is not suitable for use by a single family, and greater
interest has been shown in this aspect of house improvement during the
year.
The normal maximum grant in respect of each dwelling improved (or
provided by conversion) is one-half of the approved expense up to a
maximum of either £1,000 in the case of a Discretionary Improvement
Grant or £200 in the case of a Standard Grant.
Despite the real increase in the amount of grant available, finance
is still a limiting factor. The Council offers all the assistance possible
in the particular circumstances of a case, and has widened its
assistance to include maturity loans under the new Act, which will be of
particular benefit to elderly people who would otherwise find it
difficult or even impossible to repair or improve their homes, and one
such loan was made during the year.
The new Act also enables the Council to declare General Improvement
Areas into which special effort and resources can be directed to
improve houses and where possible also the environment. This responsibility
has been placed with the Health and Welfare Committee and a
working party of officers has been established to make recommendations.