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27
Special Committees.
Elephant
and Castle
Scheme.
It having come to the knowledge of the Vestry that the
Newington Vestry were proposing to lay before the London
County Council a scheme for the setting back of the
Elephant and Castle Public House for the purpose of widening the
Walworth Road, and the headway, by the removal and re-erection of
the block of buildings in such a position as to considerably reduce the
width of Newington Butts, a Sub-Committee was appointed by the
Vestry to report upon the matter. On receiving the report of the
Committee as to the serious nature of the undertaking, the Vestry
passed a resolution to the effect that "owing to the enormous amount
of traffic passing along the Newington Butts, amounting to upwards
of 9000 vehicles per day of 12 hours, the County Council be requested
to withhold their sanction to any encroachment on that highway as
suggested in the plan adopted by the Newington Vestry, and that the
Couucil be asked to receive a deputation on the matter if they so
desire." A deputation subsequently attended before the Building
Acts Committee of the Council, and eventually, on the nature of the
proposal becoming generally known, it was not proceeded with.
The Paragon. A letter was received by the Vestry on the 23rd
February, 1897, from Mr. Basil Holmes, secretary to the Metropolitan
Gardens Association, stating that Lord Llangattock was prepared, in
the re-arrangement of his estate, to permit the portion of ground
known as "The Paragon" in New Kent Road to be transferred to the
Vestry as a Public Garden for the sum of £3,400, towards which sum
he was prepared to contribute £1,000; the letter also stated that the
Association would be prepared, in the event of the Vestry seeing its
way to purchase the ground under the Open Spaces Acts, to lay it out
as a garden at its own expense. A special meeting of the Vestry was
at once called to consider the offer, when it was referred to a Special
Committee to report upon the matter. It was subsequently determined
by the Committee to lay the whole of the facts relating to the
offers of Lord Llangattock and the Association before the London
County Council, and it is hoped that arrangements may be made
whereby this piece of ground may be secured as a public garden for
the residents of the district.