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18
Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1919.
A survey made of the Borough in 1919 showed that approximately
there were about 12 acres of vacant, unoccupied land in 12 plots, which
might be utilised for purposes of housing.
On the 23rd July, 1919, the Borough Council provisionally approved a
scheme for housing 1,000 persons of the working classes, and for 500 other
persons in houses not exceeding a rental of £80 per annum. The Public
Health Committee asked the Government District Valuer to supply
valuations of the land on the Cadogan Estate south of the Town Hall,
south of Wellington-street, and east of Manor-street, also of the land
south of King's-road, formerly occupied by Wimsett's Nursery garden.
Mr. Charles Joseph, architect, was also asked to report on these sites, with
a view to their suitability for the purpose of housing schemes.
On the 17th December, 1919, the Borough Council appointed a Housing
Committee, separate and distinct from the Public Health Committee,
which had also for the past 20 years been a Housing Committee, the new
Housing Committee to act as a Committee for the purpose of carrying out
the provisions of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890 to 1919,
and any amendments thereof, reporting, however, to the Council before
taking action. The Council's resolution of the 16th July, 1919, appointing
the Public Health Committee, a Committee for the initiation, consideration
and negotiation of a scheme, or schemes, under the provisions of the
Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1919, was rescinded.
In 1904, Sir Thomas More Buildings, Beaufort-street, was erected at
a cost of £12,700 for land and conveyance, and £54,700 for buildings.
The cost of erecting the buildings was £88 13s. 6d., per room. A loan
was obtained from the London County Council for the £12,700 for the
land at 3½ per cent., repayable in 60 years; and a loan was obtained from
the Prudential Assurance Company, for the £54,700 for buildings, at
£3 12s. 6d. per cent., also repayable in 60 years.
At the present time the cost of erecting Industrial Block Dwellings in
self-contained tenements is about £280 per room, as compared with £89
per room in 1904. The cost of erecting blocks of self-contained flats to
be let at from £40 to £80 per annum is over £300 a room. A loan
negotiated by the Borough Council for the erection of houses under a
housing scheme at the present time would probably have to bear interest
at 7 per cent.
The costs of housing schemes in the County of London will be defrayed
from the county rate, and any excess above 1d. in the £ on the county
rate will be met by a government grant. In fixing the rentals of houses
under the scheme, no account need be taken of one-third of the actual
cost of construction, but the rentals should be calculated on two-thirds
of the present costs, these being regarded under the circumstances as
economic rents. These economic rents must necessarily be very much
higher than anything now being paid for accommodation of a similar
character under the restrictive regulations in force as to rents for houses
under a rental value of £70 per annum. It can only be when the restrictions
cease, and the rentals of houses are again fixed by the ordinary methods
of supply and demand, that any light will be thrown on the question of
whether the economic rents for the new houses can be obtained or not.