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gain access to all these houses owing to their occupants being
out throughout the day; and in these cases the condition of
that part of the house inspected was presumed to be typical of
the remainder. In all, 6,166 houses of the tenement were
inspected, whilst a further 1,250 houses where conditions were
known to be somewhat better were assessed on a token inspection
of one—fifth of their number, The remaining 30,981 houses in
the borough were not examined, and apart from possible isolated
houses here and there, these may be regarded as fit for
habitation.
Results of Survey
The 3,293 houses deemed to be unfit and not repairable at
reasonable cost fall into two categories — those which are
included in areas regarded as suitable for Clearance Area
procedure, and those which would best be dealt with as individual
unfit houses with a view to unit redevelopment. Eight areas
have already been included in a slum clearance programme approved
by the Council as follows
Area No„ of houses
Railway Mews 10
Kensington Park Mews 13
Addison Place 12
Portland Road 16
Penelon Place, Ashley Cottages
and Warwick Road 66
Stanley Gardens Mews 4
Denbigh Terrace, Denbigh Close
and Portobello Road 37
Lecky Street 5
At the time that these areas were being programmed for
slum clearance, the Kensal New Town (east) area was included
in the County Council's Town Planning Development Plan as a future
area of industrial development, and because of this it was not
considered appropriate to include the area in the Council's slum
clearance programme. Recently the Minister of Housing and Local
Government amended the redevelopment plan in regard to this area
and it is zoned as a Residential Area. The area comprises a site
of 20¼ acres, and includes premises in the following streets
Kensal Road
Southam Street
Edenham Street
Kensal Place
Golborne Road
Appleford Road
Golborne Gardens
Hazlewood Crescent
Adair Road
Bosworth Road
Practically all these houses are between eighty and one—
hundred years old, and have been subjected to heavy usage as
tenement houses throughout a period, with the result that they
are now worn out, unfit, and seriously devoid of amenities to such
an extent that the only practical solution is to demolish all the
houses within the area. A detailed survey of these houses has
now reached an advanced stage and it confirms that, with few
exceptions, the houses are unfit for habitation and are not
repairable at reasonable cost.
The Council decided to submit to the London County Council
slum clearance proposals comprising the eight areas already
approved and the eastern part of the Kensal New Town Area.
The prescribed form of Kensington proposals under Section 1