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9
provision is introduced for an appeal to a Court of Summary
Jurisdiction by any person aggrieved by the service of a notice
under these and other sections. The period within which such an
appeal can 'be made is 21 days from the service of the notice.
This means, of course, that any notice under these sections
must give a period of not less than 21 days for the execution of the
necessary work and it will not now be possible for the Council to
follow the former practice of requiring the work to be done forthwith,
or within, say, 48 hours, and, in the event of non-compliance
with the notice, to carry out the work in the owners' default in the
case of work of a particularly urgent character, such as the unstopping
of drains. Now, the full period of 21 days must be allowed to
elapse, and it is possible that, if the Council were to clear the drain
as a matter of urgency before the notice expired, their power to
recover the cost incurred might be prejudiced.
In some cases where work required by a notice has not been
done and the period for appeal has not elapsed, the difficulty has
been overcome by obtaining the owner's agreement that the Council
should carry out the work and charge the cost to him, but the
necessity for allowing the owner at least 21 days in which to do
the work will cause considerable delay where the owner concerned
proves un-co-operative.
Housing Act.
The long-awaited approval of the Minister of Health for the
resumption of slum clearance was given during the year and a fiveyear
plan for the clearance of slum properties within the County
was formulated. Under this plan, which deals with slum clearance
on an overall County priority basis, only 93 houses in Hackney are
considered to be in so (bad a condition as to warrant clearance within
the next five years'—a figure much lower than was expected by
either the former senior housing inspector or myself, although
perhaps it does not seem so surprisingly low when one recalls the
amount of slum clearance undertaken in Hackney prior to the
outbreak of war, the amount of reconditioning under the Housing
Act and the enforcement of the Public Health (London) Act by the
Public Health Committee.
At the end of 1951 certain of the areas to be cleared by the
Borough Council were 'being inspected with a view to their
representation early in the new year.
Inspections under Section 9 of the Housing Act 1936; were
continued during the year, but the loss of sanitary inspectors is
reflected in the reduced number of houses inspected as compared
with previous years. (Nevertheless, 256 houses were made fit, 37
by the Council in the owners' default and at a total cost of
£4,652 7s. 7d. Particulars will be found on page 32 of the report.