Coun. T. W. Cox told the Council on Wednesday that the next batch of 24 houses on the Higham Road estate will cost £31,500. In addition to these the Council has now been authorised to build 24 houses which will complete the estate.

A revised scheme for the construction of footpaths on the Higham Road estate by district labour at a cost of £3,800 has been approved. The work will be done in instalments beginning at “The Hedges”.

Another footpath scheme is to be submitted to the Ministry of Health. It is for the Trusteel Estate off Hove Road and may cost £2,558.

A street name is required for the cul-de-sac off Hove Road and the Housing Committee will be pleased to receive suggestions. A statement on council house rents showed that no variation is proposed on the net rents at present charged. The rent of the Trusteel houses will be 11s. per week net.

Coun. Capon said this report might be misunderstood. It should be emphasised that the tenants had to pay 11s. a week plus rates.

Estate Gets First Tenants
Delighted With ‘Trusteel’ Houses

“If everyone who gets one of these houses is as satisfied as we are, I think the Council will get some good bouquets,” said Mr. Edward Roberts, of 7, Orchard Place, Rushden on Saturday.

It is a great day for the Roberts family – and for the families of the three other ex-Service men, for in the presence of members of the Council and friends they received from the chairman of the Housing Committee (Councillor T. W. Cox) the keys to their future home on the Newton Road, planned to be “one of the prettiest little spots in Rushden.”

The “Trusteel” houses, which set a new fashion in the area, are built on a reinforced concrete base covered with mastic asphalt and have an internal steel frame; the four and a half inch brick walls have an inside skin of plaster boards. The whole is lined with glass wool, which will keep the rooms at an even temperature.

What most took the eye of the Mrs. Roberts when she looked round her shining cream, pale green and brown home to-day were the cupboards in every room.

One Grate

“We have been wanting the houses to go up and are very, very pleased with it,” she told a reporter. “The amazing thing about the house is the grate. There is only one, and it is supposed to heat the whole house.”

Points are also fitted for electric fires and the four happy housewives will have a choice of an electric or gas cooker. A gas copper in the light and airy kitchen will simplify washday problems.

Standing in the front of the door of Number 27, Hove Road, the chairman of Rushden Urban Council (Councillor A. H. Bailey) commented that it was a particularly happy occasion for the people who had been selected to be the first tenants on the really good housing estate.

After referring to the part Councillor Cox had played in establishing the new estate, the chairman said that the Councillors received the utmost co-operation from the contractors. They did appreciate all that had been done to help.

Rushden had already 64 homes on the Higham Road estate and 84 more under construction; they were hoping to get another 46 houses, which would make a total of nearly 200 “That is not all we want,” he added, “for we are trying to catch up on the long waiting list we have.”

Mr. J. Drabble promised that four more houses would be forthcoming every week until the contract was finished. Councillor T. W. Cox handed over the keys to Mr. Roberts, Mr. John W. Lewis, of “Inglenook,” Court Estate, Mr. Dennis A. Neal, of 11, St. Peter’s Avenue, and Mr. R. T. Robinson, of 4, Queen’s Terrace, Queen Street.

They would agree, he said that the estate was going to be one of the most picturesque they would have in the town. When the low walls were built, trees planted and the children’s playing field laid out, it would be one of the prettiest little spots they had in Rushden.

After mentioning the situations in which the new tenants had been placed and their war service Mr. Cox said: “Everyone has one particular reason for thinking they should be first but with 200 houses the worst cases shall be satisfied in the shortest possible time.

“Here we have a wonderful estate and a wonderful site, and very shortly we hope to have the gardens bounded by brick walls. I hope the public and the tenants will do their utmost to keep this estate a credit to the town.”