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houses can be built to compensate for the diminished
accommodation which will result if the congested and
insanitary areas are to be effectively dealt with, and to
this end the policy of the Council should be directed.
All the vacant sites in the borough have been surveyed
and enquiries made as to the possibility of obtaining
them for housing purposes, but the majority were
either considered unsuitable by the representative of
the Housing Board who viewed them, or were ruled out
by the excessive cost of the land. The only land in the
borough available for a building scheme of any size is
that belonging to the Hurlingham Club, and that
which was occupied by the Earls Court Exhibition Co.
With regard to the latter, the Council approached the
owners, the District Railway Co., with a view to its
acquisition, but were informed that the land is required
for railway purposes, and even if it could be acquired,
it is more adapted for an open space, which, as has
been pointed out above, is badly needed in that part
of the borough, than for housing purposes. As
to Hurlingham, the Council resolved to acquire
by compulsory purchase for building purposes 15
acres of land, bought by the Hurlingham Club in
1910 and used as a second polo ground; but the
Housing Board refused to sanction the proposal
on the ground that as compensation for severance
would have to be paid to the owners, the cost of the
land would be excessive.
II. Overcrowding.
At the census of 1911 there were in Fulham 3,199
tenements with more than two occupants per room,
having a population at all ages of 21,784, of whom
8,554 were under 10, and the percentage of the population
in "private families" living more than two in a
room was 14.6. The following table gives the number
of persons living in 1891, 1901, and 1911, in tenements
of less than five rooms, to which the inquiry in 1891 and
1901 was limited.