Bank Committee: January 16th 1933
The General Manager reported that it was proposed that Mr Wilde should let the flat at the
Bearwood Branch to Mr A J Whitmarsh of 96 Holliday Road, Handsworth, for a period of three years at an annual rental of £52 per annum,
the Lessee to be responsible for the rates and internal repairs, on the understanding that certain decorations considered necessary
by Mr Wilde should be carried out.
4633 RESOLVED:- That the proposed arrangements for the letting of the flat at
the Bearwood Branch be approved, and that the Town Clerk be instructed to prepare any necessary documents affixing the Corporate Seal
thereto.
Finance Sub-Committee: February 20th 1933
Painting at Branches.
Your Sub-Committee report that the following
tender has been accepted for Painting at Bearwood Branch:
H Bendy & Sons: £44. 10. 0.
Report of the Town Clerk: April
22nd 1933
Letting of Bearwood Flat - Whitmarsh.
I have to report that this tenant, after obtaining possession of the premises,
repudiated the tenancy and refused to sign the Agreement.
I have advised the General Manager that a letter addressed to the Bank's
Agents, Messrs Frank Wilde & Glover, and signed by the Tenant, setting out the terms of the tenancy, sets up a binding Agreement
for three years and I have given Whitmarsh notice that the Corporation intend to hold him to such tenancy.
Bank Committee:
May 15th 1933
4748 The following report of the Finance Sub-Committee was submitted:
Tenancy of Flat at Bearwood
Branch.
With reference to the repudiation of Mr Whitmarsh of the tenancy of the above-mentioned flat, and the decision of your
Committee to hold him to such tenancy, a proposal has been considered that the flat should be let to Mr H S Littlewood, 42 Richmond
Hill Road, who has intimated that he would prefer to enter into a tenancy directly with the Bank.
Having regard to all the circumstances,
your Sub-Committee recommend that, subject to arrangements being made for Mr Littlewood to lease the flat and to payment by Mr A J
Whitmarsh of the Bank's charges and expenses in the matter, the latter be released from his agreement for tenancy; also that the Town
Clerk be instructed to enter the necessary agreement for tenancy with Mr Littlewood, affixing the Corporate Seal thereto, the letting
to be for a period of three years at an annual rental of £52, the Lessee to be responsible for rates and internal repairs.
With
reference to the foregoing report relating to the tenancy of the flat at the Bearwood Branch, the General Manager reported that Mr
Whitmarsh has asked that he should be allowed to discharge his indebtedness to the Bank by the end of September.
4752 RESOLVED:- That the application be not acceded to and the Town Clerk and General Manager be instructed to take any necessary action
to recover the amounts due from Mr Whitmarsh; and that subject thereto, Mr Whitmarsh be released from his agreement to lease the flat
at the Bearwood Branch.
4753 RESOLVED:- That, subject to the release of Mr Whitmarsh from his agreement to lease
the flat at the Bearwood Branch, arrangements be made to lease the same to Mr H S Littlewood for a period of three years from 24th
June 1933 at an annual rental of £52, the Lessee to be responsible for rates and internal repairs; also that the Town Clerk be instructed
to prepare any necessary documents, affixing the Corporate Seal thereto.
Finance Sub-Committee: June 19th 1933
Tenancy of Bearwood Flat.
Your Sub-Committee report that Mr
Whitmarsh (the lessee of this flat) has now made arrangements to pay the amount due from him, and the proposal to lease the flat to
Mr H S Littlewood can now be proceeded with in accordance with the instructions contained in Minute No 4753. Whitmarsh has now vacated
the Sandon Road premises and arrangements have been made between him and the Bank for the payment of the rent due up to the date of
his vacating the premises. The rates and other outgoings were also paid by him.
General Purposes Sub-Committee: July 17th
1933
Bearwood Branch - Deed Poll.
Your Sub-Committee are informed that Mr E J Wood, of 2, Willow Avenue, Edgbaston, proposes
to erect 12 shops on the Poplars Estate, and that an application is being made to the Official Arbitrator for the discharge or modification
of the restriction imposed in a Deed Poll dated the 6th October, 1873.
A report has been considered from Mr Frank Wilde on the
subject, which shows that according to the deposited plans, the proposed shops would not affect the Bearwood Branch Bank, but would
affect the rental value of the flat over the Bank. Mr Wilde assesses this reduced value at £4 per annum, which on a 6% basis would
represent a capital sum of £66. 16. 0.
Your Sub-Committee therefore recommend that the Town Clerk be instructed to take
the necessary steps before the Official Arbitrator to secure the Bank being compensated to the extent of £66. 16. 0. should
the restriction be discharged or modified.
Report of the Town Clerk: November 2nd 1933
Sandon Road Branch Flat.
I have
to report that my representative attended before the Official Arbitrator at the Blue Gates Hotel, Smethwick, when Mr Wood, represented
by Counsel, put forward an Application for the modification of the restrictive covenants affecting his property No 2 Willow Avenue
and land adjoining, to enable him to erect thereon ten lock-up shops.
The Bank's claim for £66. 16. 0. in respect of depreciation of the letting value of the flat in the event of the proposals being carried out was put forward to the Arbitrator. Opposition was also forthcoming by about 170 residents on the estate, represented by Counsel, and after a lengthy hearing the Arbitrator intimated that he could not see his way to grant Mr Wood's Application to modify the covenants.
General Purposes Sub-Committee: February
12th 1934
The Town Clerk submitted particulars of letters which had been sent to the Lord Mayor by Mr Jeffrey Williams,
protesting against the action of the Corporation in connection with the Arbitrator's decision not to grant the application of Mr E
J Wood for the modification of the restrictive covenants affecting his property No 2 Willow Avenue and land adjoining so as to enable
him to erect 10 lock-up shops. The Lord Mayor, after consultation with the Town Clerk, had informed Mr Williams that the matter in
question had pursued the normal legal course, and had been the subject of due consideration by the Official Arbitrator.
The Town Clerk reported that subsequently an interview took place between Mr Jeffery Williams, Mr Wood Junior, and himself, as the outcome of which the following letter had been received from Mr C J Wood Senior, which the Town Clerk had informed him would be placed before the Bank Committee:
2, Willow Avenue,
Edgbaston,
BIRMINGHAM.
22nd January, 1934.
Sir,
I beg to thank you for the
courtesy extended to my son at the interview on the 19th instant, and I should be glad if you will please bring the matter further
before the City Council or Bank Committee because it seems to me that your objection to my application (which certainly turned the
scale with the Arbitrator) was most unreasonable especially when one considers the nature of your objection, ie
On the grounds
of a problematic loss of £10. 0. 0. per year on the letting of the flat over the Bank against which nothing was mentioned
of the gain to the City Ratepayers of say well over £200. 0. 0. if the proposed shops had been erected. Also the fact that the Corporation
'buses have made my premises practically unsaleable as a private dwelling-house owing to the noise and vibration which is continually
cracking the rough cast on the gable and putting me to expense.
Hence, Gentleman, I am the loser in the affair and not the objectors.
You
set up an agency to help to bring business firms to Birmingham by finding sites for them. Here you have helped to send the Midland
Counties Dairies, who were enquiring about my premises for business purposes, away. The premises such a firm would have built would
no doubt have been an asset to the neighbourhood and would have been an asset also to the City as regards rateable value.
These
facts, together with many more which I do not propose to bother you with here, makes me feel very much hurt regarding the injustice
done to me in the Arbitrator dismissing my application.
I am at a loss to understand the whole affair, especially after weighing
up carefully the pros and cons of the case both for and against. How is Birmingham to extend when bona fide applications like mine
are turned down with only half a hearing?
I understand from my son that another owner on this Estate has had to go to arbitration
for authority for ladies to use the lavatory on Sundays on his Sports Ground and has been ordered to pay costs for doing so.
If
the Arbitrators are not in a position to function normally, the matter should be enquired into, as no doubt many more citizens in
this big City of ours may be in a similar position to myself in the near future, especially when one considers the fast growth of
buildings right up to the City boundaries, and I contend that this Act of Parliament (Arbitration) is not only of importance to owners
of property whose houses have depreciated due to changes in the neighbourhood but is one of paramount importance to local authorities
if the central areas of our towns are to be kept at all possible for business to be done in them without traffic chaos.
Unfortunately,
I am in a very grave condition regarding health and have been confined to bed for months, so Gentlemen of the Committee, I am appealing
to you as a fellow citizen of Birmingham of long standing to look into this matter when I have endeavoured to set before you to the
best of my abilities with the aid of my son, under the distressing circumstances in which I am placed.
I am, Sir,
Yours
faithfully,
C J WOOD.
F H C Wiltshire, Esq.,
Town Clerk,
Council House,
BIRMINGHAM.
The Town Clerk explained that at the
interview Mr Williams had suggested that the question should be re-opened before the Court of Referees with the support of the Corporation.
After consideration it was:
2081 RESOLVED:- That the Town Clerk be instructed to inform the individuals concerned
that, the matter having been adjudicated upon by the Arbitrator properly appointed for that purpose, it is considered that his decision
must stand, and that the Corporation cannot see their way to take any further action in the matter.
Restrictive Covenants, Willow Avenue.
At the meeting of your Sub-Committee held on the 12th February, 1934,
the Town Clerk submitted particulars of letters which had been sent to the Lord Mayor by Mr Jeffrey Williams protesting against the
action of the Corporation in connection with the Arbitrator's decision not to grant the application of Mr E J Wood for the modification
of the restrictive covenants affecting his property No 2 Willow Avenue, and land adjoining so as to enable him to erect thereon 10
lock-up shops. Further letters were written by Mr Williams to the Chairman of your Committee, Alderman Miss Bartlett and others, culminating
in a printed communication signed by Jeffrey Williams and Arthur Wood being circulated to Members of the City Council containing serious
allegations against Alderman Miss Bartleet, Mr John Willmot (the Arbitrator) and the Corporation generally.
In consequence the
Town Clerk was instructed by the Chairman of the Bank Committee to take steps to prosecute Jeffrey Williams and Arthur Wood. On the
13th April they were accordingly charged at the Victoria Courts before the Stipendiary Magistrate with being disturbers of the peace
and likely to persevere in such unlawful conduct. Evidence was given on behalf of the Lord Mayor and by Alderman Miss Bartleet, Alderman
Gelling, Councillor Martineau and other Members of the City Council; also by the Arbitrator (Mr John Willmot), the General Manager
and Mr Frank Wilde.
The allegations of the defendants were entirely disproved and they were found guilty and bound over to be of good
behaviour for six months, Williams to find two sureties of £25 each and a personal surety of £50, failing which two months' imprisonment,
and Wood a personal surety of £25, failing which one month's imprisonment. No order was made as to costs.
General Purposes Sub-Committee:
January 20th 1936
Painting Work.
Your Sub-Committee report that the following tender has been accepted for painting work
at Bearwood branch:
Bowen Bros: £25. 0. 0.
Finance & General Purposes Sub-Committee: October 19th 1936