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Objections to the Orders were dealt with by public enquiry in the cases of Capel
Road, Forest Side and Langthorne Street. The former was confirmed, without modification.
The result of the latter was not to hand at the end of the year.
During the year 11 individual houses and parts of buildings were reported to the
Housing Committee as being unfit and not capable of being rendered fit at reasonable cost.
Twenty-four demolition Orders and three Closing Orders were made during the year in
respect of dwellings previously reported to the Housing Committee.
The Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954.
Part 1. Clearance of Unfit Houses.
Under Section 1 it is the duty of every local authority within one year after the
commencement of the Act, that is 30th August, 1954, to submit to the Minister their
proposals for dealing, under Part 2 & 3 of the Housing Act, 1936, with houses within
their districts which appear to the authority to be unfit for human habitation and which
ought to be dealt with either as individual unfit dwellings under Section 11 of the
Housing Act, 1936, or by Clearance Area procedure.
The Inspection of houses in accordance with this Instruction was begun in 1954,
when to the 31st December of that year 1390 visits had been made. The survey was
continued during 1955 when a further 443 visits were recorded.
In compiling the list every endeavour was made to render it as comprehensive and
decisive as possible. There are, however, many houses in the Borough which are substandard
and of obsolete design, which in the light of experience in the administration
of the Act together with Ministry and High Court decisions, it may be possible to include
in slum clearance schemes at a later date. The question of including these border-line
cases was considered very carefully, but it was felt that as a doubt existed they should
be excluded from the list at that stage. This is permissible under Section 1(4) which
states that the local authority may at any time submit further proposals for amplifying
or modifying any proposals previously submitted and approved.

The estimated number of families residing in the above houses is 4,009.
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