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(1) Erection of block dwellings.
(2) Erection of maisonettes.
(3) Erection of cottages.
The question of which type of dwelling is best for the needs
of the Borough is for the Council to decide. Many things can be
said in favour of each and a good deal against some. Whatever
type is decided upon, it must be borne in mind that a great deal
of the work of Bermondsey residents is of a casual nature and
more or less connected with the waterside, so that the majority
of the prospective tenants must live in or near the Borough,
where the breadwinner can be available at all times of the night or
day, and the rents to be charged within their power to pay.
There is another principle which it is well to keep in view,
and that is that, while ample accommodation should be available
for the family concerned, they should not have more than they
actually require, otherwise it leads to sub-letting, and this, to
my mind, may happen if one type only of dwelling is decided upon.
To illustrate my meaning, the number of persons in a family may
range from one to twelve, and it is obviously uneconomical and
unreasonable to provide a six-roomed house for one person or a
two-roomed flat for a family of twelve. In other words, the
accommodation provided should just suit the needs of the particular
family, and there should be no sub-letting, because it is
this evil which is largely responsible for overcrowding. Illustrated
in another way, it may be that a young married couple
without any children take a couple of rooms ; the children begin
to arrive and, as the family increases, the people are unable to
find other accommodation, the result being that, in a very few
years, they are living in badly overcrowded conditions. In these
conditions the Council should have power to move them to larger
dwellings while retaining the two-roomed tenement for a smaller
family."