NEW HOMES FOR NORTH WALSHAM
IN redeveloping the area at orth Walsham formerly known as Dog Yard, the Urban District Council has provided about two and a-half times as many homes as were there originally. And the architects—Wearing, Hastings & Rossi — claim there is a great deal more spaciousness about them.
Eighteen houses, most of them in a poor state of repair, a shop and a small workshop were knocked down in the clearance programme. In their places there are 43 units of accommodation.
Although many of the older locals are likely to go on using the original name, Dog Yard has officially become Reeve's Court. It has two three-storey blocks of flats which, built at right angles to each other, form two sides of the court, and a three-bedroomed house.
Shops
The house is behind the Salvation Army Hall which, with some business premises, forms the southern boundary of the area. Three new pairs of semi-detached houses, each with two bedrooms, have been built fronting on to Bacton Road. With some old-established shops, these make the fourth side to the court.
One block in Reeve's Court comprises 12 one—bedroom flats. The other consists of ten one-bedroom and two two-bedroom flats and also a bedroom — with washing and toilet facilities — which is let, for a small charge, to relatives or friends visiting residents in the new homes.
The other 12 units of accommodation are in a third three-storey block of flats on the north side of Hall Lane and to the east of the Salvation Army Hall. These have one bedroom each and face south:
All the flats have built-in wardrobes in the bedrooms and have a generous allocation of cupboard space. Their kitchens are big enough for meals to he taken in them and the living rooms are quite spacious.
A feature of all the new homes is that they are centrally heated. This costs those in the one-bedroom flats lis. a week, those in the two-bedroom flats 14s. a week" and the occupiers of the two-bedroom houses 16s. There is a communal television aerial.
Residents of all the flats and houses have the use of a launderette which has been provided in Reeve's Court and is equipped with two washing machines and driers.
There are three areas for drying clothes. As far as possible, these have been sited so that they are not overlooked. This is in marked contrast to the principle employed in a number of Norwich developments where the linen lines are prominent in the barrack squares."
The three-bedroomed house in Reeve's Court is occupied by a woman, Mrs Jean Wones, who is employed as warden for the grouped homes for the elderly scheme, and her husband and family.
The elderly people on whom she keeps a friendly and watchful eye are the occupiers of the ground floor flats in the three blocks at Reeve's Court, and Hall Lane and also those on the ground floor in the block at Cedar Court, on the opposite side of Hall Lane. They each have a bell in their homes with which they can summon Mrs. Wones in an emergency.
Reeve's Court is notabte in that it is a type of courtyard development which is traditional in many parts of North Norfolk. The courtyard has been landscaped, grassed and planted i with shrubs and young trees, and should become increasingly attractive with the passing of the years.
It is an area where the residents can walk in perfect safety because no vehicular traffic is allowed in it except in an emergency when an access by the west end of the Salvation Army Hall would be used.
Garages
In addition to the houses and flats there are on the old Dog Yard site of just over an acre 34 garages for letting. The entrance to these and the vehicular accesses to the flats themselves have been grouped at the rear of the buildings to reduce noise and other disturbance to a minimum.
The standard rents, which are subject to the rebate scheme, for the new properties . are: one-bedroom flats £1 4s. 3d. (plus rates, currently 9s. 5d.), two-bedroom flats £1 10s. 3d. (plus rates currently 13s.), two-bedroom houses £1 13s. 8d. (plus rates currently 14s. 5d.). These sums are additional to the charges made for central heating.
The total cost of the redevelopment has been £131,139. Building and site works accounted for £115,013, the purchase of land and clearance work for £6506 and other expenses for £9620.
The main contractors were Draper & Nichols, of Costessey, and F. P. Cann (Builders) Ltd., of Norwich, and the quantity surveyors were W. Barker Bousfleld &, Partners.
3rd June, 1968.
(Below the photo)Comfortably settled in, Mrs. E. Storey in her Reeve's Court flat chats to the Council's housing chairman, Mr. H. Osborne (left), and Mr. C. H. C arr the surveyor.
