[Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Bridge-Blean R.D.C.

  • Bridge-Blean (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1958
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Bridge-Blean R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/32 (page 5)
    -5- Despite the short period Grants to the value of nearly £5,000. were approved, working out at an average of £272. per property. Of the eighteen applications approved, one new unit of accommodation will he provided and one unfit house rendered fit. At least half of the properties were well below Housing Act standard and in the years to come would have been included in a slum clearance programme. It is also important to bear in mind that one of the conditions attached to Improvement Grants is that the owner must keep the property in a. reasonable state of repair during the next twenty years. Of the improvement work completed during the year thirty- eight properties have been brought up to the required standard. Nine were owner/occupied, ten were agricultural properties and nineteen were tenanted. The reason for the high number of tenanted properties is due to the fact that eighteen of them belong to the Chartham Paper Mills. One acknowledged failure of the Act, of course, is that owners of property available for letting have not irjade use of the Improvement Grant Scheme. A certain amount of publicity has been given to the statement from the Government that it is their intention to introduce a new form of Improvement Grant, Under the House Purchase and Housing Bill, which at the date of this report has received two readings, the new Grant will be for a maximum of £150. for the provision of a fixed bath or shower in the bathroom, a hot water supply, a water closet and facilities for storing food. It is interesting to note that local Authorities must give a Grant if the applicant satisfies certain requirements. I do not think that this new scheme5should it become law, will be of much assistance in an area of this nature, becuase in most cases the major port of the cost of improving property is taken up with the provision of drainage or ’ building Bathrooms and it will be noted that these items do not rank for assistance. However, where you have a property which is connected to a niain drainage scheme and there is also a boxroom or spare bedroom available for conversion to a Bathroom then I think this Grant will be of interest to the owner. (b) Slum Clearance Credit restrictions which have curtailed the house building programme have naturally slowed up progress on slum clearance work. It has been impossible to follow the five year programme and lie presentations are having to more or less follow the building programme except where it has been possible to re-house families in casual vacancies. However, twenty four unfit properties were dealt with during the year making a total of 96 out of the programme figure of 159» This means that approximately three fifths of the problem has been dealt with in the first three of a five year programme, so we are more or less holding our own. I am quite certain that with the speed up of house building that this Authority