Housing Act 1957

42 Power to declare an area to be a clearance area

(1) Where a local authority, upon consideration of an official representation or other information in their possession, are satisfied as respects any area in their district—

(a) that the houses in that area are unfit for human habitation, or are by reason of their bad arrangement, or the narrowness or bad arrangement of the streets, dangerous or injurious to the health of the inhabitants of the area, and that the other buildings, if any, in the area are for a like reason dangerous or injurious to the health of the said inhabitants ; and

(b) that the most satisfactory method of dealing with the conditions in the area is the demolition of all the buildings in the area ;

the authority shall cause that area to be defined on a map in such manner as to exclude from the area any building which is not unfit for human habitation or dangerous or injurious to health and shall pass a resolution declaring the area so defined to be a clearance area, that is to say, an area to be cleared of all buildings in accordance with the subsequent provisions of this Part of this Act:

Provided that, before passing any such resolution, the authority shall satisfy themselves—

(i) that, in so far as suitable accommodation available for the persons who will be displaced by the clearance of the area does not already exist, the authority can provide, or secure the provision of, such accommodation in advance of the displacements which will from time to time become necessary as the demolition of buildings in the area, or in different parts thereof, proceeds ; and

(ii) that the resources of the authority are sufficient for the purpose of carrying the resolution into effect.

(2) A local authority shall forthwith transmit to the Minister a copy of any resolution passed by them under this section, together with a statement of the number of persons who on a day specified in the statement were occupying the buildings comprised in the clearance area.

(3) A local authority who have passed a resolution declaring any area to be a clearance area shall, before taking any action under that resolution which will necessitate the displacement of any persons, undertake to carry out or to secure the carrying out of such re-housing operations, if any, within such period as the Minister may consider to be reasonably necessary.