Stanley Urban District Council
Formed in 1899 the Stanley Urban District was made up of four electorial wards that were ; Lake Lock, Outwood, Stanley and Wrenthorpe covering a total of 4,860 Acres of land. The Stanley Urban District Council existed up to 1974 when Government reorganisation merged all the local councils under the Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. Below are details of the first council in 1899.
Stanley Urban District Council
Constituted by Local Government Board
Order No. 39507 April 1 1899
Members of the Council as at First Constituted
First Meeting held 18 May 1899 at Board Schools, Outwood
Mr William Wordsworth Scarth, Chairman
Mr Ezra Hemingway, Vice Chairman
STANLEY WARD
Mr John Curtis
Mr James Hough
Mr George Green
OUTWOOD WARD
Mr Robert Green
Mr Ezra Hemingway
Mr Mathew Hall
LAKE LOCK WARD
Mr William Wordsworth Scarth
Mr David Burnley
Mr Robert Clegg
WRENTHORPE WARD
Mr Henry Roberts
Mr Thomas Land
Mr William Jones
Stanley Urban District Council 1956
We have been lucky enough to obtain Stanley Urban District Council year books for the years between 1934 and 1968 courtesy of Paul Dainton. These books are a wealth of information from the area and include; birth and death rates, land owned by the council, acts and orders amongst many. Below are detailed statistics over this period.
Population
Between the years 1920 and 1967 the four wards population rose from 14,885 to 19,030. The population decreased during the 1930s depression and during World War Two, and rose at its quickest in 1945 growing by almost 1000 in a single year.
Rate of Infant Mortality
This was recorded in deaths per 1000 births of children under the age of 1 year. In 1920 the rate was 101 which dropped to 12.5 by 1968.
Death Rate
Again this was recorded in deaths per 1000 people. In 1920 it was 12 and by 1967 had fallen to 9.80
Birth Rate
Birth per 1000 people were 26.7 in 1920 and had fallen to 21.00 by 1967, the birth rate was at its lowest of 12.46 in 1955
Loan Debt Outstanding
Money owed by the counil increased considerably after World War Two, this was mainly due to the large scale house building of the time. In 1935 the debt was £223, 131 compared with £2,114,563 in 1968, a tenfold increase. Around £1.8 million of this was from house building.
Roads in the District
Betwwen 1934 and 1968 the road network in the area had increased significantly, County Roads had increased from 5 miles to 7.67 and District Roads from 11 miles to 21.38 miles.
Housing
In the years between 1919 and 1968 Stanley Urban District Council had built a total of 1,903 houses to replace the 19 Century slum housing and to accomadate a growing population. Of the houses built 78 of them were temporary aluminium houses that were on Ferry Lane. Many of the houses built had heavily subsidised rents for many years as people forced to move into them after the large slum clearences could not afford the rents.
Sewerage
The Sewage of part of Leeds Road, Bradford Road and Wrenthorpe, is treated at the joint sewage works at Wrenthorpe under the Management of the Joint Sewage Committee, upon which the Council has four representitives. The sewage of Stanley, Outwood and Bottomboat is treated at the Councils sewage works at Smalley Bight, Stanley, by land filteration, tanks and filters. A pumping station has been errected at Lee Moor, for the purpose of pumping sewage from Lee Moor to Smalley Bight Sewage Works. The sewage of certain houses in Barr Lane and Aberford Road is treated by the Wakefield Corporation. The sewage of 178 properties and works at Lofthouse Gate is received into the Councils sewers upon payment by Rothwell U.D.C.
Lighting
Public lighting in the area was gas an had been supplied by the Wakefield Gaslight Company since December 1905.Gas was phased out and replaced by electricity between 1957 and 1963. Aberford Road street lights were replaced in December 1958. A small number of gas lamps remained in use in the Nook Inn area, which were replaced when the M1 motorway was completed.
Extracts from 1935 – 36 year book
Fire Brigade
Captin – R Blakey
Lieutenant – B Frost
Hon. Lieutenant – T Eyles
Hon. Surgeon – Dr J D Bottomley
Fire Engine Driver – J S Goodair
Reserve Fire Engine Driver – T Clarkson
Firemen
G A Wright
G Barker
C Pidcock
D Bell
R Teasdale
R T Crook
A petrol motor fire engine was purchased in September 1911 at a cost of £915 and replaced in March 1930 at a cost of £1,325. The Fire Station is situated in the Council Yard, Coach Road, where the fire alarm bell is fixed.
Public Motor Ambulance
The ambulance is a Austin 20/25, purchased in August 1928 it is garaged in the Council Yard on Coach Road.
Land and properties owned by the council
Council offices and outbuildings on Coach Road
Sewerage works and land at Smalley Bight
Pumping Station at Lee Moor
Church Fields at East Ardsley
Land on Lawns Lane
Land at Bottomboat (tip)
Outwood Hall – 88 houses, 2 cottages and lodge, plantations and park
Lime Pit Lane – 38 houses
Wrenthorpe – 37 houses
Church Lane – 42 houses
Moor House Estate – 130 houses
Wrenthorpe – Land for housing purposes
Land Rented by the Council
Newton Hill Allotments – rented from Wakefield Diocesan
Newton Hill Allotments and Recreation Ground , Ferry Lane Allotments and Hatfeild Hall Estate Recreational Ground – rented from West Riding of Yorkshire Mental Hospitals Board
Stanley Parish Land (Recreation Ground)
1942 - 1943 year book
Click any image to enlarge
The last year of the Council
1974
Commemorative board of the councils Chairman
Thank you to Tony Banks for the above photo
Stanley Urban Councils slum clearance scheme debate September 1955
Many people are affected by Stanley Urban Councils slum clearance scheme, who move into council houses, cannot afford the rent. The provisional rent is “absolutely ridiculous” declared Cr J. Knee, at Monday’s meeting of the Council when members debated its housing programme.
Confessing that the housing outlook “looked black” Cr H. Elson drew attention to a report showing that the estimated number of houses unfit for human habitation was 301 including 7 in confirmed pre war clearance areas) The report recommended that 171 should be dealt with by inclusion in clearance or compulsory purchase orders, and 123 under the Housing Act within the next 5 years. The report revealed there were 114 families in Lodgings and 50 overcrowded families at Outwood, Stanley and Wrenthorpe. Land had already been purchased for 318 houses, and land still had to be bought for 147.
Cr. Elson expressed the view that the Housing Committee should review the position. The withdrawal of subsidies was going to make the scheme impracticable.
Cr J. E. Howe said it was an impossibility to review the matter as Cr Elson had suggested. When the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced his “axe” then people would have to answer.
Government should change its policy
Cr Knee said the Council had before it a slum clearance schedule but they were aware that many of the people to be moved into Council houses could not afford the rent. The provisional rent of 30s 6d was “absolutely ridiculous” If there were not such a dire necessity for houses, he would advocate the halting of the housing programme until the Government changed its policy on loan repayments which would make cheaper Council house rents possible.
Cr Knee pointed out that some people involved in slum clearance were paying about ten shillings a week rent. When moved into a Council house, they were faced with more than three times this sum to pay each week. “If it weren’t for the fact that unemployment would be created, and that houses are needed, I should say stop the housing programme until the Government alters its policy”.
Cr E. Lumb, also a member of the Housing Committee, noted that in the Councils area there were 254 houses considered unfit for human habitation and these would be pulled down within the next five years. The majority of people living in these houses had not tried to obtain Council houses because they could not afford the rent. The slum clearance scheme was to be compulsory, and for the next five years a certain percentage of Council houses had to be allocated to slum clearance.
Milestone round necks
“I hope the Government will subsidise the slum clearance scheme and give people who will more or less be forced to go into these houses a reasonable chance, and help them. Instead of hanging a milestone around their necks” said Cr Lumb.
Every local authority was being affected by this problem said Cr C. Perry. So far as they were concerned, for a £1,500 house 9s 10d. Per week had been put on the rent. That was a serious thing and he did not want extra subsidy. He felt that there was something wrong with the Government machine for the simple reason that before they could borrow any money for housing, they had to apply to the Minister for permission to borrow the requested capital. He was throwing the onus on to local authorities to build houses at rents tenants could not afford to pay.
“There’s no question about it. Its going to go up and up, and I feel that the time has come for the Urban District Councils Association to call a special meeting in conjunction with the Association of Municipal Corporations and the County Councils Association to at least bring force to bear and tell the Minister that housing will have to cease unless present methods are altered.” Declared Cr Perry. The position concerning repayments of loans and housing subsidies would have to change. It was creating more inflation, for money was going into the hands of bankers, and he thought they should consider the advisability of calling upon the Urban District Councils Association to go into the whole matter.
“You cannot expect a man now living in a small house and paying five or six shillings a week rent to move into a house where he will have to pay 30s a week. I think 25s a week would be nearer in view of the recent interest charges” said Cr Perry. He thought the provisional rents should be referred back for further consideration.
Stanley not to blame
Stanley Urban District Council was not to blame. If they were progressive, it meant pushing a great deal onto the rates which he felt they could not do; they were already subsidising local authority houses to the extent of 12 or 13 shillings a week. They must stand on their own feet. They had to consider the position of putting into Council houses people who knew they could not afford to pay the present rents. “It is a deplorable state of affairs that they should go in with the knowledge that they would owe rent” he said.
The chairman (Cr A. Field) noted that during the week, the Urban District Councils Association Conference was being held at Scarborough. On the agenda was an item dealing with this subject and he hoped that pressure would be brought to bear in a concentrated way on the Minister.
The housing report was accepted, but it was agreed to refer back to the General Purposes Committee for further consideration, the question of Council house rents. This concerns a resolution that the provisional net rents of the houses now being erected on the Bottomboat Road Estate should be 23s 9d per week for a three bed roomed dwelling and 14s 7d per week for a one bed roomed flat.
70 more
The Clerk was instructed to ask the Ministry of Housing for an immediate allocation of 70 houses to be built on Lime Pit Lane (extension) housing estate. The number is made up of 30 three bedroom dwellings, 32 two bedroom and 8 one bedroom. The Clerk will apply to the Ministry for sanction to the borrowing of £85, 483.
It was reported to the housing Committee that arrangements had been made for an official from the Health department to inspect all temporary buildings erected on Council estates; that the 24 aged persons flats at Wrenthorpe were almost complete and that all keys had been excepted.
Plastic numbers
The Council decided to renumber its 1500 houses with plastic numbers costing 5d each. An official said there had been unofficial complaints from the Post Office that numbers painted on the houses had worn off. The plastic ones are expected to last longer.
The Yorkshire Electricity Board, which had requested the Councils permission to install immersion heaters in any Council house at the request of the tenant, is to be informed that permission will be granted only after consideration of each application.
