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and repair where houses have a suitable life expectation. The first stage of the Markhouse
Road Slum Clearance/Redevelopment Scheme was confirmed by the Minister without
modification during the year. This area consisted of clearance areas and adjoining areas where
the houses, although not unfit for habitation had, in the opinion of the Council, passed their
useful life. The first stage of the Markhouse Road Redevelopment Scheme is the fore-runner
of an ambitious programme to update the housing stock in Walthamstow and during the year
11 more clearance areas were declared in the vicinity. It seems that an increasing use of a
combination of Parts III and V of the Housing Act, 1957 to effect clearance will be inevitable
if housing policy is to deal with the large number of houses which will become obsolescent or
socially unacceptable within the next 20 years.
The Housing Act, 1969 gave a fillip to the improvement and repair of the existing
housing stock by the setting up of procedures combining improvement grants with the machinery
for the re-assessment of rents by way of Qualification Certificates. The full effect of this was
felt by the middle of the year when over 2000 applications for Qualification or Provisional
Qualification Certificates had been received. This placed an additional burden upon the staff
which was already seriously below establishment. Although all applications for Qualification
Certificates alleged that the prescribed modern amenities existed and that the properties were
in a satisfactory state of repair, this was not supported by the facts in respect of over 50%
of the applications and one can only conclude that the owners or their representatives had not
in fact even visited their properties for some considerable time. Towards the end of the year
there was a reduction in the rate of applications received, probably in anticipation of the
further legislation which it is expected will reach the Statute Book by 1972. From a practical
point of view this enabled the Inspectorate to undertake the accumulated backlog of work so
that by the end of the year a total of over 2800 applications had been dealt with.
It is surprising that in spite of a steep rise in house prices the Department is frequently
involved in complaints concerning vacant and apparently abandoned houses. Such housing
units are a loss to the community, a lost revenue to the rating authority, a loss of amenity to
the neighbourhood and a constant cause of complaint to the local authority. In a few cases
the owners of the properties have been traced but who by an eccentric whim prefer to leave
the unoccupied houses to deteriorate. Powers to deal with this situation are limited but I am
pleased to report that as a result of pressure from the Department 6 houses were re-occupied
during the year after remaining vacant in some instances for as long as ten years.
The 1967 national housing survey demonstrated that the extent of unfit housing was
much greater than formerly supposed. Now there is a pressing need for an accurate assessment
of the condition of the older housing stock within the Borough. Short and long term improvements
must be geared to a formulated housing programme and the first step is proposed by detailed
surveys to be carried out by the Public Health Inspectorate. It is hoped to commence such
surveys early in the New Year and decisions as to further redevelopment will be made having
regard to the additional information available.
Small but significant progress has been made toward solving the problem of itinerant
caravan dwellers. The Caravan Site Act, 1968 required local authorities to provide suitable
sites so that gypsies could become assimilated into a settled community if they so desired.
During the year the Council authorised a scheme providing basic facilities for sixteen
caravans, and by the end of the year site work was in progress.
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