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82
Register of Houses Let in Lodgings.
When the new by-laws came into operation it became necessary to consider what alterations, if
any, were needed in the work of the Public Health Department.
Registration of houses let in lodgings commenced in this Borough in 1886. By 1890, there
were 1,800 houses on the Register. In 1923, when the Council adopted their present housing
policy, the number registered had reached 2,169, and, at the time of the introduction of the new
by-laws in March, 1926, it was 3,651. In March, 1926, the Register comprised eleven books and,
apart from the houses which were added in the previous three years, the information was very much
out of date and probably inaccurate in many details. In respect of about half of the houses on
the Register the original entries were made more than thirty-five years ago.
It was obvious that this Register needed revision. Further, it has been found that books are
not very suitable for the purpose of recording information regarding houses, particularly as this
information is constantly changing and consequently requires alteration from time to time. The
Public Health Committee decided, therefore, that it would be cheaper and more satisfactory to keep
housing records on the card index system.
On the adoption of the card index system, blue cards were introduced for houses let in lodgings
and white cards for other houses. This system has effected a great improvement in the
work of the Public Health Department and it will in future be possible for the Council to learn at a
moment's notice full details as to the size of rooms, ventilation, water supply, drainage and all
the material points in regard to the many thousands of houses which have been inspected in a
routine fashion in recent years.
All houses let in lodgings are now being re-registered under the new system and the old, outof-date
information which had to be relied upon in the past is gradually being replaced.
At the commencement of 1926 there were on the old Register 3,614 houses. The number of
new houses registered during the year was 265. The number of houses removed from the Register
during the year was 109. At the end of the year the number on the Register was 3,770, and 581
of these had been transferred from the old Register to the card index register, leaving 3,189 to
be reviewed and transferred to the new register or removed as not coming within the definition of a
house let in lodgings.
ACCOMMODATION PROVIDED BY THE COUNCIL.
The Borough Council built before the War 120 tenements in the Notting Dale area.
Since the War they have provided, through the Housing Committee, 55 cottages and 178
flats, and have converted 19 large houses into 102 maisonettes. The cost of the housing work
undertaken by the Housing Committee in the provision of these 335 separate houses, cottages or
maisonettes, has been £279,010 16s. 5d.
Five cottages and 30 flats were completed during the year.
A piece of land in Tobin Street and Thresher's Place on which there were some old and dilapidated
cottages was secured during the year and a commencement was made in the erection of 14
flats on the cleared site. The estimated cost is £11,800.
In the past few years the Public Health Committee, on behalf of the Council, have acquired
two derelict houses in Bosworth Road, which have been converted into 12 flats, four houses in
Sirdar Road which have also been converted into 12 flats, and one house in Sirdar Road which has
been put into a satisfactory state of repair and is now occupied by four families. They have
acquired a block of 18 dilapidated flats in Virginia Place, together with a piece of vacant land
adjoining, and during 1926 they erected on this vacant land one block of flats which provides 12
two-roomed and 7 three-roomed tenements.. At the time of writing (April, 1926), the old block
is being demolished with a view to the erection of a new block on the cleared site.
During the year the Council purchased one house in Kenley Street, but it has not yet been
decided whether it shall be used for increasing housing accommodation or as an Infant Welfare
Centre.
ACCOMMODATION PROVIDED BY HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS.
The number of houses acquired during the year by the Wilsham Housing Trust, the Improved
Tenements Association and similar bodies was 28; these have been or will be altered so as to provide
satisfactory accommodation for 68 families.