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consideration. 85 families were considered suitable for recommendation
to the London County Council for preferential consideration but
of these abandoned their applications. 71 families were offered
accommodation by the London County Council, 54 of these being
recommended by the Medical Officer of Health, 6 families failed to
take advantage of the offer. During the year 1927, notifications
were received that 9 families who had been recommended for
preferential treatment had been rejected by the London County
Council; in the cases of 19 applicants recommended, no information
had been received at the end of 1927.
The total applications made to the Public Health Department,
1924-1927, were 446. The number of applicants recommended for
priority treatment was 236. The families accommodated by the
London County Council were 146, as follows: —Becontree 68,
Downham 46, Watling 29, Tottenham 3 families.
In addition, a large number of Finsbury families obtained
houses by direct,application to the London County Council.
Many of the unsuccessful applicants found they could not
afford the increased rent and added railway fares. There is one
other item of expense which, in the experience of the L.C.C. officers,
is often forgotten. The town children, transferred to the healthy
tonic environment of the country, develop enormous appetites and
seriously increase the food bills of their parents.
Visit to the London County Council Wormholt Estate.
The London County Council in 1927 offered to the Finsbury
Borough Council a number of houses, not exceeding 100, on the
L.C.C. Wormholt Estate. These houses may be occupied by
tenants nominated by the Finsbury Borough Council; the tenant
will pay the usual rents prevailing on the estate, while the Finsbury
Borough Council pays an annual charge, estimated at £610s. per
annum on each house for a defined number of years.
Such an accommodation would be extremely useful to this
borough council if Finsbury ever undertook another clearance
scheme similar to the White Horse Alley Reconstruction Scheme.