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97
Housing.
New Houses.
The difficulties arising from the lack of adequate housing
accommodation, referred to in previous annual reports, continued to
prevail, although to some small extent additional accommodation
has been secured, mainly through the London County Council in
accordance with an arrangement made by them with the Metropolitan
Borough Councils.
There is a reasonable prospect, however, that under the new
Housing Act there will be a speeding up of the provision of housing
accommodation for the less prosperous class of the population, who,
owing to the inability to pay rents on the existing scale, have
hitherto been unsuccessful in their application for better housing
conditions.
During the year the Council had under consideration the
purchase of St. John's College, which, with its grounds, comprises
a site of 4f acres, on which they propose to erect some 300 dwellings.
This will be a valuable addition to the work which the Council
has already accomplished in relieving some of the more urgent cases
of hardship which have come to their notice.
The Council also have in contemplation the purchase of
another site in the Borough which would further assist in the same
direction.
During the year a portion of what is known as the Battersea
Rise Estate, which had been reserved for the erection of a Church,
was made available for the building of dwelling houses. The
Council, having regard to the high cost of the scheme and the
restrictions contained in the title, reluctantly decided not to proceed
with the purchase of the land, on which six houses were subsequently
erected by private enterprise.
Apart from the Plough Road Improvement Scheme and the
Plough Road Extension Scheme (vide pp. 101), no new workmen's
dwellings were erected by the Council in 1929.