View report page

Report of the Medical Officer of Health for 1950 25
sites, comprising 42 houses, were eventually taken over by the
London County Council for development. The North Passage
Area, Putney, with 26 houses, which was represented on 2nd
February, 1939, was also held up. By the end of 1950, however,
only two of the houses were still occupied. Six had been destroyed
by enemy action.
Post-war Clearance Scheme: During the six years of war the
Council's clearance schemes were suspended. Between 1940 and
1945 only 38 houses in all were demolished, some by enemy action.
Among the owners, the Wandsworth Gas Company demolished
11 houses in Warple Way and incorporated the site into their
factory. Since the war, seven houses in Garratt Lane, Fairfield
Ward, have been represented (13th March, 1947) and declared
a Clearance Area (27th July, 1948). Eight houses in Balham New
Road were similarly represented on 30th July, 1947. Several
smaller pre-1939 areas, where clearance was delayed by the
war, are now once more under review, and several new areas
have been scheduled as unfit for human habitation. Of these, the
St. Alphonsus Road Area, consisting of 79 houses, was represented
on 22nd March, 1950.
The total number of houses dealt with over the period under
review by 31st December, 1950, was 1,027. Of these, 814 had
been demolished, 15 closed and 198 were still outstanding.
Insanitary and Underground Rooms: During the same period.
Closing Orders were made on 308 rooms, considered to be unfit
for human habitation, in 114 houses. Two hundred and thirty-one
of these were underground rooms.