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59
be produced without a large annual deficiency, which would mean a
substantial increase in the rates for many years, in addition to the penny
rate which the ratepayers of Westminster have to contribute towards
the County Fund, the Council therefore did not feel justified in embarking
upon a separate Housing Scheme. This decision was acquiesced in by
the Minister of Health on the advice of the London Housing Board after
a careful consideration of all the circumstances.
I pointed out in my last Report that much of the housing difficulty
in Westminster was due to the presence in the City of persons who had
come to work therein temporarily. Many have gone, but there are still
a number employed in Government offices. During the year the private
houses used for war purposes have been given up and have been re-let
either as whole houses or converted into flats. Through the difficulty in
obtaining house room in outlying districts, there are a number of persons
living in Westminster who are employed in other parts of London and
even outside, as far away as Woolwich, Hayes, Beckton and elsewhere.
The Peabody Trustees have acquired an island plot of land between
Great Peter Street, Chadwick Street and Horseferry Road, on which they
are erecting accommodation for 93 families—approximately 500 persons.
A number of the houses on the site had been condemned and pulled down
in past years, and, during 1920, a number of the remaining houses have
been closed. Most of them were old and worn out. The new buildings
will be in 3 blocks; at present two only are being proceeded with, the third
block at the Horseferry Road end will be begun on the completion of the
other two, and the houses on this part of the site are being left until
then. The Council came to the assistance of those who were displaced
and have rented from the Guardians the disused casual wards in Wallis's
Yard, which they converted into tenements for 70 people, the cost being
borne by the late owners of the site and the Peabody Trustees.
Section 6 of the Housing (Additional Powers) Act, 1919, requires the
consent of the County Council to be given where it is proposed to demolish
houses occupied as dwellings or to convert such to business purposes.
In each case the observations of the City Council have been invited.
In certain cases objection was taken to the scheme, in others it was required
that alternative accommodation be provided for the persons to be
displaced.
Many of the leases on the Duke of Westminster's estate are falling
in, especially in St. John's Ward, and the houses are being taken over by a
firm who are having a survey made of each house with a view to the
remedying of any defects existing. In a few years' time all the leases in
this neighbourhood will have expired, and the area seems a suitable one