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ratio, or can be operated by a low horse-powered electric motor and a terylene rope which winds
rounds a drum. These fixed lifts can also be fitted in a bathroom and toilet and as more than one
would normally be required for bedroom and bathroom, they work out more expensive than the
supply of a mobile hoist which can be used anywhere. The fixed hoists allow more independence
to the handicapped person as he can operate them himself. The mobile hoist, as already mentioned,
has to be operated by an attendant. There are many designs of slings to go with these hoists and
only the needs of the disabled person can determine which slings should be ordered.
HOUSING
In May the Minister of Housing and Local Government confirmed the Waltham Forest
Housing (Avenue Road Area) Compulsory Purchase Order, 1966 comprising 5 clearance areas. This
was the second stage of a project to clear 9.3 acres of outworn property in the southern part of the
borough.
In furtherance of the Council's programme of housing renewal, the first stage of the
Acacia Road Redevelopment scheme consisting of eleven clearance areas was submitted to the
Minister for confirmation in August.
The Minister's confirmation was also obtained in respect of a Compulsory Purchase
Order involving the acquisition of unfit dwelling houses in Shemhall Street.
In addition to the work of declaring Clearance Areas to secure the demolition of aggregations
of unfit houses, a number of individual buildings or parts of buildings were dealt with under
closing order procedure as being unfit for habitation and not capable of being rendered fit at
reasonable expense. Closing Orders was made in respect of 34 dwelling units and in 12 instances
formal undertakings were accepted from the owners not to relet the premises.
The World Health Organisation has defined health as being "a state of complete physical,
mental and social well being and note merely the absence of disease or infirmity".
This positive approach to health is possibly nowhere else better exemplified than in the
modern attitude of local authorities towards housing. Yet within itself there is no fixed dogma. Its
changing circumstances demand flexibility. The very housing stock itself is changing, and it is
this change which calls for local authorities to review their attitudes in discharging their functions
under housing legislation. The responsibility to meet changing circumstances is made more onerous
by the human relationships which are affected and the social consequence which follow.
Changes in the social pattern over the past 20 years has resulted in a vast improvement
in many houses instituted voluntarily by both owner/occupiers and tenants. The ability to afford
materials, the cult of "do-it-yourself" and shorter working hours have enabled certain sections of
the community to improve or at least arrest the deterioration of many sub-standard houses in which
they live. This situation is evident in some of the houses in the southern part of the borough where
areas which were considered to be eminently suitable for clearance order procedure are now found
to be of higher standard than formally proposed.
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