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Somerset County Herald and Taunton Courier. Saturday 19 Sep 1936
Page 6 Column 3
TAUNTON'S HOUSING
What is the position of housing in Taunton? From the report of the inquiry held this week it would appear that housing conditions in the County Town are somewhat squalid, for in nearly every instance the Medical Officer said the best, and in many cases, only way, of effectively dealing with the property was by demolition. Six hundred houses, or almost one in ten of the inhabited houses in the borough, do not come up to present-day standards, and the Council propose to deal with some 300 under their Slum Clearance Scheme. It must not be supposed that all these houses are in an insanitary condition: far from it. But the standard of living of to-day, compared with the standard of only fifty years ago, renders them unfit from the point of view that structurally they do not comply with the by-laws. In some cases the houses are back to back with other houses, particularly so in the matter of Courts, and, therefore, there is no through ventilation. In other cases the ceilings are low, or, the proximity of other buildings robs them of sufficient air space. In some cases there is no separate sanitary accommodation or food store, whilst in others there is no water in the house, or sink for waste water. All these questions are taken into consideration in determining whether or not a house is fit for human habitation. Another point is that in many instances the houses are built so close together that the density per acre is far greater than can now be tolerated. It is for this reason that in some instances the Medical Officer cannot even allow them to remain to be used as stores, whilst cases have occurred of an undertaking having been given that certain houses shall not be re-let for human habitation, but have been sold without this stipulation having been stated, and, eventually, they have been re-occupied under a new landlord. By the time the Council has finished its slum clearance scheme much of old Taunton will have disappeared, and what was once its most crowded area might well become open, well-lighted spaces.
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SPITAL ALMSHOUSES
Spital Almshouses, one of the few remaining thatched buildings in the Borough of Taunton, is threatened with demolition under the Council's Slum Clearance Scheme, but the Somerset Rural Community Council has nobly come forward with a scheme to save it. It is only by a stroke of fate that the building comes within the Borough at all. It belongs to the Trustees of the poor of the adjacent parish of West Monkton, and, until the last extension of the Borough, was situate in that parish. Towns, however, must grow, and the rural area must diminish, and thus we get rural scenes brought within a borough with its modern requirements. That the Spital Almshouses are not ideal for human habitation is admitted by all the interested parties, and the Town Council are not at all anxious to see them demolished, but, as the Town Clerk explained, they have a duty to perform under the recent Housing Acts, and in the discharge of that duty they have to declare the area in which the Almshouses are situated a Slum Clearance area. The Minister of Health has power, if certain undertakings are given, to preclude specific properties in the area, and it is hoped that he will exercise that power in the present instance and that the Charity Commissioners will then agree to the sale of the property by the Trustees to the Rural Community Council at the price offered on their behalf by Major-General ELLISON. If this is done we feel certain that it will find favour with the general public, and, as a large sum of money will be required to fit them for the purposes for which it is proposed they should be used, we suggest that the public should be invited to subscribe for their purchase and preservation. The preservation of countryside crafts is a very laudable object, but the craftsman must have some method of disposing of his goods and this can best be done through a central depot, which becomes an asset to the county. If the property can be secured for the public and put into a thorough state of repair we have not the least doubt but that some scheme will be propounded whereby it can be made a self-supporting proposition. The decision of the Minister of Health will be awaited with interest, for until that is known no further steps can be taken.