Bexhill Borough Council: building control plans

Systematic, contemporary, numbering of the plans began in March 1893, with number 1. Early in the 20th century, the Borough Surveyor's Office numbered, also from 1, an accumulation of plans, almost all dated to prior to March 1893, but with a few later strays. These numbers have been retained as the last element in the references in this catalogues, except that for the earlier series the prefix 'X' has been added. The penultimate element identified to the box in which the plans are now stored.

It is likely that at least from March 1893, on receipt in the Surveyor's Office, each application for approval was entered in a register against the next consecutive number. The date at which the application was considered by the relevant committee and/or by the Council and the outcome were probably entered as well. These registers have not survived, perhaps being discarded after the department had compiled a card index by street. This card index has been retained by Rother District Council and is the only topographical finding aid.

The list of numbered plans in this catalogue, from DR/A/1/3/1 to DR/A/1/10/1051B, 1893-1899, was compiled from the minute books of Bexhill Local Board and the Urban District Council (DR/B/1). These minutes contain the recommendation of the responsible committee to the Board or Council on each application. The sequence is determined by the date of the Council meeting which received the recommendation, and that is the date given. Unfortunately the practice of including in the Council's minutes the serial number was adopted only in 1942 (with number 8863). The serial numbers were then added from the envelopes in which the plans, with the application form and any correspondence, were (and still are) stored.

It seems to have been the practice in the 1890s that, if an application was not approved, the plan(s) and the application form were returned to the applicant. The applicant might amend the very same plan, or add a further plan, and resubmit, with the original application form. The Surveyor's Office then assigned a new serial number. It was only when the application was approved that the (current) serial number was marked on the plan. Therefore gaps in the sequence do not necessarily represent lost plans, rather the plans may survive but under a different number. But if the unsuccessful applicant did not resubmit, the plan left the Surveyor's Office permanently. Where, with reasonable certainty, the same application can be identified as being considered on more than one occasion, the information has been collapsed into a single entry under the number finally assigned upon approval, with a note of the earlier or later considerations (but without the serial numbers).

Those applications in the minute books which cannot be linked to any surviving file are deemed to be 'missing on transfer'. They do not have serial number derived from the envelopes, so a 'vacant' number has been assigned. In most cases the missing plans fill gaps in the running sequence of numbers; in a few cases, the missing plan has been given the number of the plan immediately preceding, with the suffix 'B' added, the preceding plan gaining the suffix 'A'.

The list from DR/A/1/10/1052 to DR/A/1/30/3246, Jan 1900 to Apr 1923, seems to have been compiled by Rother District Council, from the plans which were checked against the minutes. The list does not therefore contain entries for applications which were not approved and for which there are no plans. Many entries incorporate information of later date than that at which the plan was approved, such as the name or street number given to a new house, and subsequent changes to these. This information probably came from the card index or may be noted on the plan's envelope.

There is no list of the plans held in the Record Office from DR/A/1/30/3247 onwards.

In the title of each plan are given in sequence, separated by /: the nature of the works and their location / the name of the owner / the name of the architect or builder.

These plans of proposed new buildings and alterations to existing buildings were submitted for approval under local building bylaws, Public Health Acts, Bexhill Corporation Act 1925, Town and Country Planning Acts 1932-1947 and the Restriction of Ribbon Development Act 1935

The earliest plans listed were submitted for approval to the Bexhill Local Board of Health. From 1895 they were submitted to Bexhill Urban District Council which was established by the 1894 Local Government Act and from 1902, when its charter was granted, to Bexhill Borough Council