Wortley Rural District Council: Registers Of Building Plans

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Title

Wortley Rural District Council: Registers of building plans
AdminHistory

Wortley Rural District Council was established in 1895 under the Local Government Act of 1894.

In terms of acreage the Wortley RDC area was larger than that of Sheffield City.

Included within the district was all or part of:
Bradfield
Broomhead Moor
Burncross
Chapeltown
Dungworth
Ecclesfield
Firth Park
Grenoside
High Green
Hillsborough
Howden Moors
Midhope Moors
Midhope
Mortomley
Oughtibridge
Pilley
Rivelin valley
Shiregreen
Stannington
Strines Moor
Wadsley
Wadsley Bridge.
Wharncliffe Side
Wincobank
Wisewood
Wortley

The Council originally met at Grenoside Workhouse until new offices were opened in 1939.


Housing Services:

With regard to housing, Worley RDC started to build houses soon after the passing of the Housing and Town Planning Act of 1919. By 1921 the first houses (in Strawberry Avenue, Ecclesfield and Jeffcock Road, High Green) were completed. After the Second World War the Council took over the army camps at Bracken Hill and Potter Hill and provided 212 temporary dwellings. By 1974 there were nearly 5,000 council properties, housing over a third of the district's residents. The largest developments were to be at Mortomly (which included some cast iron dwellings) and at Angram Bank.

Housing for the elderly, provided by the Council included John Trickett House (opened 1965) and developments in High Green at Charles Square, Newgate Close and Kinsey Road, at Fox House in Grenoside and the Eva Ratcliffe House at Ecclesfield. There were also developments at Lane End, Oughtibridge and Stannington.

Specially built bungalows for the disabled were provided at St Giles Square, Chapeltown and Angram Road, High Green.

Wortley was the first rural district to embark on a high rise scheme, with flats at Chapeltown (completed in 1966).

Public Health:

The first Medical Officer of Health was Dr James Snadden, appointed in 1895. There was also a Sanitary Inspector. The major work of the public health department was the laying of water pipes, slum clearance, vaccination services and waste disposal (refuse collection was by horse and cart until as late as 1935).


Highways and Planning:

Wortley RDC was a delegated highway authority of the West Riding County Council.

Street lighting responsibility was inherited from parish councils after the Second World War. Most were gas lamps, the last one being replaced by electric ones, at Bromley village in 1970.


Parks and Recreation:

The first recreation ground was acquired in 1919 - Chapeltown Park. Other parks included Ecclesfield Park and Glen Howe Park at Wharncliffe Side. Indoor leisure facilities were provided at Newton Hall in Chapeltown and welfare halls at High Green and Tankersley.
Description

Registers of deposited byelaw building plans.
Date 1881 - 1936