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97
GENERAL.
The foregoing facts indicate that substantial progress
is being made both in the reduction of overcrowding,
in the demolition of insanitary areas and
in the provision of new housing. We are apt in the
day to day absorption in the details of this complicated
problem, especially when hard and urgent cases
compel our attention, to lose sight of the larger
issues, and that long term view which is essential
to a sound policy. It is worth while therefore taking
stock not only of the actual situation but also of
the probable trend of events and the situation which
will exist in 5 or 10 years' time. Two aspects in
particular appeal to me :
(1) The respective spheres of the Borough Council
and the L.C.C.
(2) The standard of the new housing.
With regard to the first, it is surely a truism to say
that nowhere in London or even in Greater London
can the local aspect of the housing problem be
separated from the problem of the whole aggregate
of London. There are no self-contained communities
: all are linked in the tangled factors that affect
housing such as place of work, means of transit,
relative standard of living, etc. This applies with
special force to the congested districts in East
London where nearly two centuries of unplanned and
uncontrolled development and a large poor population
have created a housing problem of great
magnitude and particular complexity.
In the face of such circumstances it is obvious that
the local borough council can only touch the fringe
of the problem. The new housing required can only
be economically and effectively provided on a big
long term programme and it is most needed in those
boroughs which would be the least fitted by their