Correspondence Files of the Housing Committee of Bath City Council (HSG sequence)

Correspondence files created by the Town Clerk's Office in the course of the work of the Housing Committee of the Bath City Council.

As the Council’s chief officer, the Town Clerk and his department were responsible for carrying out the policies and decisions made by the Council’s committees. This series records the Town Clerk’s work under the direction of the Housing Committee. Alongside BC/8/5/1, it charts the Housing Committee’s actions in response to new legislation and to local needs .
This is a partial sequence of filing; it is believed that many of the files were disposed of in the wake of the Council divesting of its housing stock to Housing Associations in 1991.

The remaining files contain correspondence, accounts, plans, newspaper cuttings, compensation claims, tenders, conveyances, requisitions on title, agreements, particulars and other records relating to: the acquisition of lands, by compulsory purchase and by agreement; maintenance of council housing (roof insulation, fire precaution works and replacement windows); introduction of the Housing Act (1980) and the Right to Buy Scheme; improvement areas (Norfolk Crescent and East Twerton); shorthold tenancies for housing purposes; implementation of homelessness legislation and YMCA Hostels; improvements to pre-1939 dwellings; construction of new housing estates (Twerton/Whiteway Estate, Whitewells, Claremont Buildings and Midsummer Road); conditions of council house properties including damp and condensation; and The Rent Act (1965).

Arrangement. It has not been possible to establish the reason for the existence of the two series, HG and HSG, both of which relate to the Housing Committee. It is not simply a matter of date as at times the series run concurrently. The two sequences have been retained to respect their original order.