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https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] THE SOCIAL IMPACT OP HOUSE IMPROVEMEMT A CASE STUDY OF DENNISTOUN COLIN G. TYTLER Submitted as part of the Department of Town and requirements for the Regional Planning, Degree of Master of Philosophy University of Glasgow. April 1982 ProQuest Number: 10867916 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uesL ProQuest 10867916 Published by ProQuest LLO (2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLO. ProQuest LLO. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.Q. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 SYNOPSIS A major factor in the shift in favour of house rehabilitation and away from comprehensive clearance and redevelopment has been the belief that rehabilitation is much less socially disruptive. This assumption has been little tested. "By examining an area of Glasgow subject to considerable house improvement, this dissertation seeks to identify the social and community impacts of rehabilitation. Does rehabilitation benefit existing residents? Do households leave the area as a result of rehabilitation and, if so, where do they go and how do they rate their post-move housing conditions? Who replaces them? These are some of the questions the dissertation addresses. CHAPTER 1 examines the thinking behind the move from clearance to improvement while CHAPTER 2 reviews both American and British literature on the social aspects of rehabilitation. CHAPTER ) deals with the legislative side of house improvement and the changing emphases of successive policies. The impact of legislative changes on the quantity and impact of improvement work is also considered. CHAPTER 4 consists of a brief description of the study area itself and an outline of the development of improvement activity within it while CHAPTER 5 sets out working hypotheses and develops a possible methodology for the study of the social impact of rehabilitation. CHAPTER 6 is an analysis of results drawing together the various data sets used into a generalised overview. Supporting the factual data, CHAPTER 7 summarises discussions with various public and private agencies and local community groups about the operation and results of improvement policy. CHAPTER 8 extends the discussion beyond the confines of the study area by developing a more generalised model of neighbourhood change and household movement as affected by rehabili tation. On the basis of a set of indicators of neighbourhood change, other areas of the city are identified where rehabilitation pressures are likely to be greatest. A number of policy recommendations emerge from a closer examination of the model. Acknowledgements Thanks are due firstly to my supervisor, Jean Forbes, for her constant help and encouragement and to the many people who assisted in the collection of data, especially the staff of Reidvale Housing Association, the Private Sector of Glasgow District Housing Department, Duncan Maclennan, Isobel Robertson and Mary Latham. Much appreciation also to my typist, Mrs. Hilda Walker, for giving the dissertation an air of academic respectability which it might otherwise have lacked. And thanks finally to family and friends for never admitting to being too bored with the whole thing. TABLE OP CONTENTS Page Synopsis Acknowledgments Table of Contents List of Figures CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Costs and Benefits 1.3 Gentrif icat ion 1.4 Dennistoun CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVllW 4 2.1 American Research 2.2 British Research CHAPTER 5 HOUSE IMPROVEMENT : THELEGISLATION 15 CHAPTER 4 THE STUDY AREA 24 4.1 History 4.2 Local Plans 4.3 House Improvement CHAPTER 5 METHODOLOGY 55 5.1 Survey 5.2 Secondary Data Sources CHAPTER 6 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 42 6.1 Housing Department : Improvement Grant Files 6.2 Reidvale Housing Association 6.3 1974 Migration Study 6.4 Cheaper End Study 6.5 Summary CHAPTER 7 LOCAL DISCUSSIONS 73 7.1 Planning Department 7.2 Housing Department 7.3 Reidvale Housing Association 7.4 House Improvement and Clearance Section 7.5 ASSIST 7.6 Building Societies/Estate Agent/Bank 7.7 Community Council Page CHAPTER 8 A MODEL OP HEIGHBOUBHOOD CHANGE 85 8.1 Filtering 8.2 Neighbourhood Recovery 8.5 Ptaap-priiDing 8.4 Indicators of Nei^bourhood Change 8.5 Model of Population Movement 8.6 The Future 8.7 Summary 8.8 Recommendations Appendix Bibliography LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Objectives of Improvement Policy 10 2. Grants to Private Owners 12 5. Govanhill : Characteristics of Residents 14 4. Scotland : Number of Dwellings subject to Grant-aided Improvement 23 5. The Study Area 25 6. Dennistoun : Tenure 27 7. Changes in House Tenure, 1979-84 29 8. North Dennistoun/Haghill ; Existing Housing Provision 31 9. Value of Improvement Grants 42 10. Work undertaken with the aid of Improvement Grants 42 11. Occupation Changes in Units not subject to Improvement Grant 44 12. Characteristics of In-movers 45 13. Reidvale Out-movers : Destination 47 14. Location of Applicants 48 15. Reasons given in support of applications 49 16. Location of Applicants 50 17. Secondary Reasons in support of Application 50 18. Tenure 51 19. Size of In-mover Households 52 20. Apartment Size 53 21. Reasons for Move 53 22. Tenure 53 23. Reasons for Move 54 24. Size of Out-mover households 55 25. Apartment Size 55 26. Distribution of In-movers 56 27. Distribution of Out-movers 57 28. Moves from local authority housing to owner-occupation, 1974 59 29. Dennistoun : Number of House Transactions, 1972-80. 61 30. Dennistoun : House Transactions, 1972 62 31. Dennistoun : House Transactions, 1980 63 32. Dennistoun : Mean Price of House Transactions, 1972 64 33. Dennistoun : Mean Price of House Transactions, 1980 65 34. Dennistoun : Dominant Source of House Finance, 1972 66 35. Dennistoun : Dominant Source of House Finance, 1980 67 36. Source of house finance by 100 metre grid-square 68 37. Dennistoun : Number of Improvement Grants, 1975-80 69 58. Dennistoun : Value of Improvement Grants, 1975-80 70 Page Figure 39# Distribution of Improvement Grants, 1975-80 71 40, Neiê^tibourhood Life-Cycle 84 41# Model of Ne i^bourhood Change 94 42, Schema of Household Movements 98 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION ”•••• it is a fact that the act of improvement of a typical tenement building will result in one third of the families of the tenement losing their homes throu^ no fault of their own," (Currie 1974 : 55) The 1970*8 witnessed growing concern for the inner areas of Britain’s conurbations. Critical examination of the post-war emphasis on wholesale clearance and redevelopment resulted in a review of the traditionally minor role of rehabilitation in ameliorating housing conditions. While the fundamental role of the rehabilitation programme has been modified through time, it has always been claimed that improve ment of the existing housing stock avoids certain of the major excesses of the "bulldozer" approach, especially the length and expense of clearance and the social disruption inflicted upon existing communities. Popular wisdom holds that improvement is less socially disruptive than clearance. Such wisdom has unfortunately too often been based on ill- conceived ideas of the purpose and process of improvement and anecdotal evidence about the social impact of rehabilitation policy. The dearth of research reflects a number of factors. The 1974 Housing Act resulted in a new approach to house rehabilitation, especially of the kind carried out by Housing Associations in Housing Action Areas, Many of these programmes have been in operation for only seven or eight years and any attempt to assess their social impact before now might have proven premature. In addition such research is often thwarted by the problems of definition which surround any study of ’social matters’ and ’community ties’. Having successfully negotiated the definitional problems, there are still considerable practical diffi culties in designing and implementing a research methodology to address the proper questions. Nevertheless it is felt that sufficient time has passed in the life of the improvement programme to seriously examine the social impact of rehabilitation. This is not seen primarily as an exercise in destruc tive criticism but as an attempt to shed some light on a topic which, if ignored, may render improvement policy open to the same kinds of criticisms levelled at slum clearance in the late 1960’s, It was from conventional wisdom based on unquestioned assumptions that many of the oversights of that time arose. It is only in recent years that planners have come to accept that they serve a multitude of public interests rather than the single monolith by which they have traditionally justified much of their work. Very little work has been done in the identification of the different groups involved in the improvement process and in the costs and benefits accruing to them.