View report page

239
age groups and the gaps between the young and old will grow—
industry will be deprived of the advantages of the normal, gradual
progression of the young to positions of responsibility—olaer persons
will, perforce, have to retain seniority longer which may well
alienate them from the younger element and their eventual retirement
will result in a diminution of experienced personnel and a
hiatus in expertise that industry can ill afford. Currently, jobs in
the manufacturing industries in London are already declining at
a faster rate proportionately than the capital's population. Indeed,
total unemployment in Greater London, as given in Census returns,
has risen from 2.0% in 1961 to 5.1% in 19 71 while, over this 10year
period, employment in manufacturing trades has declined
by 25.1% and in the construction industries by 28.2% In Greenwich,
the recent Census revealed that 5.3% of its economically
active males were out of work, its population had contracted by
5.41% since 1961 and, during this period, the number of persons
in the working-age group had fallen by 11,680.
In providing these statistics it is not the object of this Report to
produce an economic survey but merely to indicate the fundamental
importance of housing policy and its effects upon the fabric
of society. Clearly, if not arrested or closely monitored, these
side effects could prejudice London's whole viability. Housing
could become adequate but, with declining industry, unemployment
could become rife and, with mutilated communities, that indefinable
"quality" of life which we all seek to attain would be lost.
Pessimistic—maybe, but vandalism, hooliganism and loneliness
are all on the increase; by 1981 it is estimated that of all London
households, 20% will be made up of single-person families (in
Greenwich the number of one-person households has risen from
9,476 (13%) in 1961 to 14,095 (19%) in 1971); distance travelling
to obtain employment is growing at an alarming rate and these
social changes could very well be early manifestations of the
threatened deterioration of London life. Prolongation of such
conditions will render the metropolis incapable, by its own efforts,
to sustain its services to the old, infirm and under-privileged groups
who would begin to form the major portion of the capital's
population.
In focusing attention on the current G.L.C. problems it would be
uncharitable to forget that, together with the previous L.C.C., it has
a most enviable record in the housing field. Its first scheme was
introduced under the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890,
in the year that Gladstone, an erstwhile Member of Parliament
for Greenwich, retired as Prime Minister. The building of this
estate at Bethnal Green in 1894, which provided 1,069 flats and 18
shops, was quickly followed by others so that dwellings erected