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80
HOUSING DEPARTMENT.
Representation under the Housing of the Working
Classes Act, 1890 (Part I).
During 1924, the area known as the China Walk Area has been
represented under the Housing Act, 1890 (Part I) by the Medical
Officer of Health.
Grants are given by the Treasury to the London County Council,
as the Housing Authority under Part I of the Housing of the Working
Classes Act, 1890, for (a) the abolition of slum areas or (6) the carrying
out of improvement schemes throughout the Administrative County of
London, and the London County Council Housing Committee
decided that a portion of this grant might be allocated to the Borough
of Lambeth, suggesting that the area to be dealt with should be the
area known as the Ethelm Street and Victoria Place Area. The
.Medical Officer of the Borough was unable to agree with this view,
owing to the fact that action had recently been taken by the Borough
Council in connection with the individual houses comprised within
that particular area, under Section 28 of the Housing, Town
Planning, &c., Act, 1919, and that, in consequence, large sums of
money had been spent and large amounts of work carried out, thereby
rendering the individual houses reasonably fit, in all respects, for
human habitation. Further than this, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
as the Owners of the Ethelm Street portion of the area,
had already formulated an improvement scheme and had actually
erected in connection with such scheme the first block of tenement
buildings, at the corner of Ethelm Street and Cornwall Road.
It was suggested, therefore, to the London County Council, as the
Housing Authority under the 1890 Housing Act, that it would be
better, in so far as the Borough of Lambeth was concerned, to deal
with the area known as the Linnett Street, etc., Area, off Tanswell
Street, which is a side street off Oakley Street, and that such Linnett
Street, etc., Area might be advantageously dealt with in connection
with a much-needed metropolitan improvement, viz., the widening of
Oakley Street. With this suggestion the London County Council was
unable to agree, and. consequently, the Medical Officer of Health of
the Borough, with the consent of the Borough Council, represented
another area, viz., the area known as the China Walk Area. This