PART VIII AREA IMPROVEMENT
General improvement areas
253 Declaration of general improvement area.
(1)
Where a report with respect to a predominantly residential area within their district is submitted to the local housing authority by a person appearing to the authority to be suitably qualified (who may be an officer of the authority), and it appears to the authority, upon consideration of the report and of any other information in their possession—
(a)
that living conditions in the area can most appropriately be improved by the improvement of the amenities of the area or of dwellings in the area, or both, and
(b)
that such an improvement may be effected or assisted by the exercise of their powers under the provisions of this Part relating to general improvement areas,
the authority may cause the area to be defined on a map and by resolution declare it to be a general improvement area.
(2)
A general improvement area may not be defined so as to include, but may be defined so as to surround, land which is comprised in a housing action area.
(3)
A general improvement area may not (unless the land has been cleared of buildings) be so defined as to include, but may be so defined as to surround—
(a)
land comprised in a clearance area,
(b)
land purchased by the local housing authority under section 290(2) (land surrounded by or adjoining clearance area), or
(c)
land included in a clearance area under section 293(1) (local housing authority’s own property);
and where the Secretary of State on confirming a compulsory purchase order under Schedule 22 (acquisition of land for clearance) modifies the order by excluding from a clearance area land adjoining a general improvement area, the land shall, unless the Secretary of State otherwise directs, be taken to be included in the general improvement area.