Admin/biog history
The records were created by the Borough Health Department (before 1964), the County Borough Housing Department (1964-1974) and Luton Borough Council Housing Department after 1974. The department had under successive pieces of legislation powers to control dilapidated housing and to redevelop areas of housing condemned by slum clearance and rehousing programmes. Luton while not experiencing the overcrowding and slum conditions of the major conurbations like London, Birmingham and Glasgow, did have small areas of bad housing especially in the older parts of the town centre built before 1855 such as Adelaide Street, Rothesay Road and Stuart Street. In 1936 a Housing Survey revealed of 25,655 dwellings in Luton with a population of 85,600, only 100 houses, about 0.51% of the housing stock was recorded as overcrowded.
During the 1930's the Borough encouraged by attractive grants under national legislation, particularly following the Housing Act, 1936, began a slum clearance programme, which after being interrupted by the Second World War resumed in the 1950s. The 1957 Housing Act further increased the powers of local authorities to clear and redevelop areas of bad housing which led to a series of reclearance schemes mainly in the town centre in the years 1957-1975.
The records divide into three broad categories: firstly records created by the clearance schemes including the Clearance Area, Compulsory Purchase Order and Public Inquiry files; secondly records created by the enforcement of the Housing Regulations which are represented by the large series of Dilapidation and Abatement of Nuisance files. Finally and thirdly records created to gather information about the housing stock including Housing Survey records such as survey cards and statistical summaries of the returns.
Clearance Area Files BOR L/EH/19/1/1-141
These files are arranged by the Slum Clearance No., running numerically and chronologically from No.1 to 220 covering the years 1934-1975. The files have been heavily weeded of all duplicate material. Each file consists of a schedule of the affected properties being condemned for clearance with details of the owners, occupiers, site plans, structural defects, correspondence with the affected parties and sometimes the Housing Survey record cards recording the details of each individual property being cleared.
Dilapidation and Abatement of Nuisance Files BOR L/EH/19/2/1-404
There are 404 files arranged alphabetically by address and mostly relate to an individual premises or to a group of adjoining premises. Originally the files were arranged under appropriate section of legislation starting with the Housing Acts of 1925 and 1936, but once an individual file was opened all the transactions relating to the premises exercised under subsequent legislation were placed on the same file.
The files have varied set of contents including: schedules of defects compiled by the Housing Inspector, estimates of the cost of repairs to meet the requirements of the building regulations, correspondence between the Public Health Department, occupiers and owners of premises concerning the enforcement of the building regulations. The regulations are extensive from the comparatively trivial such as the compulsory provision of dustbins to the complete closing of a property to human habitation and its ultimate demolition. Where Closing and Demolition Orders have been made these can sometimes be found on the file and some of the older files also include Housing Survey cards. See below for further details on Housing Survey cards, BOR L/EH/ /4.
Housing Survey Summary Return BOR L/EH/19/3
The survey was conducted in 1931 under Section 8 of the Housing Act, 1930 which required local authorities with urban populations of over 20,000 to prepare new housing schemes. The Luton survey recorded 184 houses mostly in the older parts of the town. The survey consists of a report concerning the requirement for the survey under the Housing Act, 1930, and a tabular summary of the returns. The summary return sets out in tables the number of occupants and rents of the individual premises, dividing the returns into several areas which were later largely used to decide the boundaries of the Clearance Areas developed under subsequent legislation notably the Housing Acts of 1936 and 1957.
Housing Survey Cards BOR L/EH/19/4/1-30
These are surveys of houses conducted under the various Housing Acts 1925-1935 between 1936 and 1938. This is an incomplete series of survey cards as cards are sometimes filed on the individual Dilapidation and Abatement file for the property see BOR L/EH/19/2 series above. The cards are arranged alphabetically by street names. Details recorded for each property include the dimensions of the rooms, the condition of the cooking facilities, drains, food storage areas, toilets, water supply, washing facilities, windows and general particulars of sanitary and structural disrepair. Information recorded about the residents include the age, cleanliness and gender of the occupants, the amount of rent paid and the name and address of the property owner.
Survey of Sleeping Accommodation BOR L/EH/19/5/1-21
Arranged alphabetically by street names and conducted in January 1936 under Section 10 of the Housing Act, 1935. The forms were sent to the occupier of each property surveyed and after being completed were posted back to the Public Health Department. The returns include the ages, genders and numbers of persons sleeping at the surveyed premises within a 24 hour period ending at noon, 24 January 1936.
Inspection of Council House Report Cards BOR L/EH/19/6/1-18
The report cards record the inspections of 18 council houses in Putteridge Road made on 17 and 21 May 1940. The cards record details of the ages, cleanliness of the occupants, the name of the tenant, the weekly rental and the number of bed and living rooms. Also recorded was the condition of bedding, clothing, methods of food storage and preparation, the state of garden cultivation, any housing defects and general comments on the medical history of the residents.
Compulsory Purchase Order Files BOR L/EH/19/7/1-2
Contents include orders, notices, plans and schedules giving details of the structural defects, occupiers and owners of the premises to be compulsorily purchased. Most of the information on these files is repeated on the relevant Clearance Area file, see
BOR L/EH/19/1 series above. The CPO file for the Burr Street and Duke Street Order, BOR L/EH/19/7/2, also includes the housing survey cards, statements of objection and the Borough Engineer's reply to the objectors.
Public and Ministerial Enquiry Files BOR L/EH/19/8/1-13
These files were created when objections made by the occupiers or owners to proposed Clearance and Compulsory Purchase Orders led to public or ministerial enquiries being established by the Minister for Local Government. Following the enquiry procedures contents include correspondence between the Borough Public Health Department, the occupiers, owners and the appellant solicitors; notices, orders, plans and schedules of alleged structural defects of the contested properties.
General Filing BOR L/EH/19/9/1-2
Two pieces of filing which relate to the general subjects of dampness in prefabricated houses and a forecast of priority housing needs including a summary table of the proposed clearance, improvement and redevelopment schemes.