[Report 1969] / Medical Officer of Health, Redditch U.D.C.

  • Redditch (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1969
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1969] / Medical Officer of Health, Redditch U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    37/60 page 19
    Demolition and Clearance of Houses Progress continues to be made to clear unfit houses in the Urban District and the following table sets out the action taken:- Clearance Area Number of houses 23, 25? 27 & 29 Birchfield Road. 4 Individual Unfit 54, Foregate Street, Astwood Bank. 8, Bates Hill. 1, Queen Street. 5, Margaret Place, Queen Street. 24, Clive Road. Flat 3? The Gables. 6l, Evesham Road. 6, 8 & 10 Chapel Rd.,Astwood Bank. 544, 546, 5^8, 550 Evesham Rd.,Crabbs Cross. 88, Ipsley Street. 93 & 95 Birchfield Road. 6, High Street, Astwood Bank. 24, 26 & 28 Prospect Hill. 9? 11? 13 & 15 Windsor Street, 50,52,54,56,58,60,62,65,66,68,70,72 & 74 Albert Street. 232, Birchfield Road. 17, 19 Sc 21 Birchfield Road0 1 Closing Order. 1 ]_ It M 1 1 II II 1 *1 ]_ II II 3 Demolition Order. 4 i» 11 p 11 11 2 i» it p 11 11 it 11 4 it 11 13 p 11 11 ^ 11 11 Total:- 46 houses During the year 4l houses were demolished. Improvement of Houses The other side of the coin to clearance of unfit houses is of course Improvement and the Government has pursued its policy of encouraging owners and owner/occupiers to improve their property, so adding to the stock of fit houses and preserving property that might well within a few years otherwise fall into the category of unfit. To this end the Government this year increased the maximum grant payable for a standard grant (for the provision of a bathroom) to £450 and for a discretionary grant (for overall improvement of the house) to £1,000 and brought into the works allowable for grant, that of repairs and replacements incidental to improvements. During 1969 29 applications have been received for Improvement grants, 27 for Standard grants and 2 for Discretionary grants. The total amount paid as grant being £7,64l.e .0, as £6,512 for Standard grant and £1,129 for Discretionary grant. A further feature to encourage owners to improve their houses can be found in the Housing Act,1969, whereby a Local Authority can declare areas of housing to be General Improvement Areas. In such an area the Local Authority would hope to encourage improvement of houses by themselves improving the environment and receiving an exchequer contribution for so doing. There is no compulsory power given to the Local Authority to require owners to improve their property but it is hoped that by seeing an improvement in the environment they will be encouraged to do so. The Council decided to adopt a policy of declaring General Improvement Areas and four areas were selected for further appraisal. One such area is St. George's Road/Grange Road containing 6'- houses, and a detailed survey is being carried out to determine whether or not to recommend this area to be declared a General Improvement Area. 19
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3