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HOUSING
Of the 83 houses recommended for slum clearance in the provisional programme for
the years 1955 to 1960, the majority are now either demolished or under sentence of
demolition as soon as all occupying families have been housed.
Properties already dealt with on the list submitted to the Ministry of Health are:—
Numbers 1 and 2, Bells Cottages and 1 to 6, Pluckington Place 1
Numbers 1, 2,3 and 4, Killarney Cottages Demolished 12
Numbers 5 to 18, Featherstone Terrace Awaiting demolition 14
Numbers 2 to 4 and 18 to 28, Spencer Street
Numbers 6 to 16, Spencer Street Demolished 14
Dagmar Cottage Allowed to remain provided
no human habitation
1
Numbers 9 to 15, The Crescent Awaiting demolition 15
One cottage was brought up to suitable standard by the owner and is still inhabited.
Improvement Grants (Housing Act, 1949, as amended by the Housing (Financial Provisions)
Act, 1958)
Three applications were received and all were approved for grant for property
improvement.
The improvements in standards of housing resulting from the use of this type of grant
and from the repair conditions by which increased rents can be obtained under the Rent Act,
1957, make a useful although not extensive advance in the attainment of good environmental
conditions for healthy living.
Certificates of Disrepair (Rent Act, 1957)
During the year 75 applications have been received, 75 proposals to issue Certificates
were approved. Twenty-one certificates were issued and 17 certificates cancelled. Cancellation
and issue are not necessarily related.
Overcrowding
There was an increase in the number of families referred to the Public Health Department.
Thirty-three cases of new overcrowding were confirmed in 1958, a rise of 12 over the
previous year, which had been the lowest since 1944. Twenty-six cases of overcrowding were
relieved during the year—this figure was 44 in 1957. The number remaining on the Department's
register of overcrowding at the end of the year was 63 dwellings. For further detail
see Table XIII, page 63.
Rehousing of Applicants for Council Dwellings
Council Housing within the Borough
Total number of families obtaining Council accommodation for the first time in 1958:
78 families, including 14 from Slum Clearance Areas, 6 from derequisitioned properties, and
12 moved into old people's dwellings.
37