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9
Social Conditions.
There have been no noticeable alterations during the past year,
apart from the rebuilding of large areas in the district which have
been cleared by the County Council following compulsory purchase
and clearance orders. The Tanswell Street area is now almost
rebuilt, and a start will soon be made in the demolition of the
buildings on the opposite side of Oakley Street, where the living
conditions have in some instances beggared description. The
difficulties which arise where there is any considerable lapse of time
between the confirmation of a clearance order and the actual
demolition seem to be insuperable. When dwellings have been
declared to be unfit for human habitation and their condition
confirmed by the Minister after inquiry, it is questionable whether
a sanitary notice served under the Public Health (London) Act,
1936, upon the owner can in practice be enforced in a court of
summary jurisdiction. Something can be done at times, perhaps,
by persuading owners in such circumstances to effect repairs, but
more often than not this is frankly out of the question. A leaky
roof of old pantiles is likely to be made worse by patching, and
the only remedy is often to strip and re-roof. This is expensive
and a clear waste of money when the premises are to be demolished
as soon as the alternative accommodation is available. A similar
dilemma is experienced when old drains are found broken or
obstructed and cannot be cleared. It will be realised, too, that
areas likely in the near future to be represented as clearance areas
are treated as lightly as possible for some time beforehand in order
not to throw unfair financial responsibilities upon the owners, and
this treatment tends to accentuate the embarrassment to be faced
when there is delay in clearance after representation.
Both the County and Borough Councils have in the past year
come to realise that new blocks of fiats to replace the old unsanitary
houses are not in themselves a satisfactory exchange, as the
limitations imposed upon tenants either by the Council's letting
agreements or by the public opinion of other tenants, are found
so restrictive as not to permit a full enough social life to satisfy
their aspirations and desires. A similar failure to satisfy the
reasonable demands and expectations of tenants in other districts