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current year and there is every confidence that the worst
of the private stock of houses within the borough has now
been dealt with by the declaration of clearance areas.
Unfortunately, very little progress has been made in
clearing these areas as not only are most of the houses in
thirteen of the areas still standing and occupied, the orders
have still to be forwarded to the Department of the
Environment for confirmation. Details of the oustanding
clearance areas are given below and it is hoped that it will
not be too long before the department can have the
satisfaction of reporting the demolition of all these houses,
following the rehousing of the occupants.
Although the structural condition of the remainder of
the houses on our proposed slum clearance housing
programme 1970/1973 are suspect, it was thought that,
basically, they could be sound enough to provide
satisfactory housing for a number of years if more attention
was given to their repair and improvement. A systematic
house to house survey of these properties has been
initiated which it is intended to extend to all the older
housing in the borough. By implementing this policy, it is
to be hoped that "twilight" housing will be prevented
from deteriorating into potential slums and useful units of
housing accommodation will be saved. Owners are required
to carry out all works of repair, which are considered
necessary to render property in all respects fit for human
habitation and although this can be achieved by statutory
means under the various provisions of the Housing Acts,
unfortunately, improvements can only be brought about
with the full co-operation of both the owner and the
tenant. Therefore, the owner is advised of the availability
of standard and improvement grants and every
encouragement is given to take full advantage of them.
As this new approach to the improvement of sub-standard
housing was started only twoards the latter end of the
year, it is too early to give any significant indication of its
success but the challenge has been accepted with enthusiasm
and optimism.
From time to time, houses are found, which,
structurally, are considered to be so far defective as to
justify either demolition or closing procedure being
evoked. Because of the predominence of terraced and
semi-detached properties within the borough, it is more
usual to recommend the use of closing order procedure
rather than demolition orders, so that adjacent houses will
not be adversely affected. This form of action has become
very popular with certain owners, who eagerly await the
rehousing of the controlled tenant by the borougn ano
then regardless of cost, repair and improve the properties
and eventually put them on the market at the currently
inflated prices. This has become a very delicate issue but as
far as the implementation of the Housing Act is concerned,
every regard must be given to whether repairs can be carried
out at a reasonable cost or not. The subject of whether it is
reasonable to commit an owner to fairly substantial repair
bills, having regard to the income from the property, is
still as controversial as ever and although the value of a
vacant property is dictated by current demands on the
housing market, opinions differ widely as to a method of
arriving at a realistic assessment of a tenanted property. It
is highly unlikely that the problem will ever be effectively
resolved by the employment of any accepted method of
valuation and as the surveys of sub-standard property
continue and notices are served for extensive repairs, it is
anticipated that a number of cases will eventually find their
way into the County Court on appeal and some guidance
may be obtained from the results of these, upon which
future policies can be based.
During the year this borough was required by the
Department of the Environment to make investigations of
500 properties, picked at random, and it was decided to
take full advantage of the visits involved by preparing
reports on the structural condition of each property,
together with details of any deficiencies in standard
amenities etc. Record cards have been produced for each
property and it is the intention that they should form a
nucleus of a comprehensive record system to be kept
within the department of the housing stock within the
borough. Every detail of housing information will be
entered on these cards and new cards prepared as and when
a property is visited for any reason by a member of the
staff.
During the course of the day to day work of the
department, the district public health inspectors continue
to inspect houses upon complaint and where structural
defects of a minor nature give rise to public health
nuisances, abatement notices are served requiring these
nuisances to be remedied.