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61 [1931
Ellenborough Road, Nos. 8 to 32.—13 houses, accommodating 152 persons,
approximate area, 13,992 sq. feet. This series of houses is recommended for
reconditioning, and that necessary steps be taken in accordance with the schedules
submitted to compel the owners to make effective repairs necessary under the
Housing Acts.
Fairbridge Road, Nos. 169-191.—12 houses, accommodating 155 persons,
approximate area, 15,360 sq. feet. These properties are similarly recommended to
be dealt with in the same manner, reconditioning under the Housing Acts, the
necessary notices to be served on the owners.
Queensland Road. — This area comprises the streets in Queensland Road,
Queen's Square, Victoria Place, Victoria Mews, Instow Place, Emily Place and
Albany Place. There are 158 houses, chiefly let out in working-class tenements
of one, two and three rooms, with a population of 926 adults and 469 children,
1,395 persons in all. One site is vacant, for a house was blown down in September,
1929. The area is approached directly from Benwell Road, and is an island
site bounded on the north by the Islington Borough Council's refuse wharf, and
on the east by the London and North-Eastern Railway. The houses are all aged,
badly planned, poorly fitted up, many having long outlasted their term of useful
service. In Queensland Road are a number of basement dwellings with dark and
damp lower rooms. The roofs call for constant attention and repair, are of the
valley type, tiled, with zinc-lined gutters. From other causes also dampness is
largely prevalent. In a few, oil lamps are still used, no gas fittings having been
provided. The staircases are generally dark, narrow and worn to a dangerous
extent. Repairs are invariably done in the lowest, cheapest way possible, and are
not lasting. The area contains three commercial premises, namely, Garage of
Westerns Laundries, Factory of W. Barnes and Son, and the Scott Insulated
Wire Co., and a Mission, the Swainson Memorial Hall. At present the approach
is via Queensland Road, but by development alternative access could be found.
It seems to form a place where the extension of the Borough Cleansing Depot
would for future requirements be provided for. This^ therefore, would preclude
its being considered with regard to the actual building of houses.
95, 97 and 99, Georges Road.—Three houses, accommodating 29 persons.
These three houses stand upon a very small site, are old, and are very close to the
public footpath. They are in proximity to the area represented some time ago to
the London County Council, the date being 5th April, 1929, when a representation
was made in respect of Georges Road, Hope Street, Eden Grove, and part of Eden
Grove, formerly known as Grove Street (Hope Street area). It would not, in my
opinion, be expedient to deal with this small isolated detail, for it usually happens
when a housing scheme is carried out so near, there is an incentive for the adjacent
portion to be brought up to approximately the standard of the new buildings,
because the extra population brings more trade and other requirements, so that
adjacent sites are readily taken up and improved by private enterprise.
20-54, Chalfont Road.—There are 18 houses here in one terrace, accommodating
85 adults and 27 children, 112 persons in all. The houses are in a fair state of
repair, and at the back there is an area of vacant land. The number of houses
here is larger than would be dealt with in a Borough Council scheme, and as
stated, the condition of the houses is fair, the ground landlord having recently
served schedules of dilapidations, and the leaseholds have only about two years to
run.