View report page

116
Housing.
Housing Act, 1936.
This Act, which came into force on the 1st January, 1937,
received Royal Assent during the year. It is a consolidating
act and does not introduce any new provisions.
New Working Class Dwellings.
During the year 50 tenements were erected by the Council
as part of their housing programme.
The fiats form the remaining two blocks on the Stewarts Lane
site and were mainly utilised for the rehousing of families from
clearance areas in the borough.
In addition 18 flats were in course of erection on the site of
Nos. 231 to 253 York Road, which had been acquired by the
Council with a view to extension of the Plough Road Improvement
Scheme.
The Council endeavoured during the year to secure the site
of the Battersea Grammar School for housing purposes but they
weie unsuccessful.
Seventy-seven tenements were erected by the London County
Council during the year on the Didcot Stieet clearance area site,
and 179 tenements were completed by the Peabody Trust on the
site of the Royal Masonic School for Girls, St. Johns Hill. A
further 125 tenements on this site were in course of erection at
the end of the year.
In addition to the foregoing 6 houses (4 in Rusham Road,
1 in Berkeley Street and 1 in Vicarage Road) were erected by private
enterprise.
Overcrowding.
Some improvement has taken place in the abatement of overcrowding
due, in part, to the activities of the Borough Council
and to the assistance provided by the County Council. There is,
however, considerable room for improvement in certain areas in
the Borough.
The Minister of Health fixed the " appointed days" for
Battersea under the Housing Act, 1935, as 1st January, 1937,
for section 6 (i.e., the date within six months of which prescribed
information must be inserted in rent books) and 1st July, 1937,
for sections 3, 4, 8 and 68 (i.e., the date after which overcrowding
becomes an offence).
The Council issued a pamphlet giving information for landlords
and tenants as to the provisions of the Housing Acts, with
regard to the prevention and abatement of overcrowding.