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79
WORK OF THE SPECIAL (HOUSING) COMMITTEE.
The following summary of the principal matters which were considered by the Special
(Housing) Committee during the past year has been prepared by Mr. A. Powell Coke, Clerk
of that Committee and of the Estates Committee which has taken its place since the end of
1921. In regard to some of the questions which will be referred to, the summary has been brought
up to the end of July, 1922.
The work of the Special (Housing) Committee, which has been in existence since 27th
November, 1918, is now merged in the Estates Committee, following the decision of the Council
on the 22nd February, 1922, when it was decided to set up a Housing Department to control
and manage all houses built and owned by the Council, except such as are occupied by employees
of the various departments in connection with their work. The duties of the Estates Committee
have been laid down as follows :—
" To take over, control and manage all houses and other properties of the Council
except such as are used by any department of the Council for its own purposes ; to see that
such houses and properties are kept in tenantable condition and let at reasonable rents ;
to prepare schemes under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts for the improvement
or reconstruction of insanitary areas, and to supervise the erection of houses for the working
classes ; and to deal with such other matters as may be referred to the Committee by the
Council."
The first meeting of the new Committee was held on the 20th June, when Councillor
W. Carter was appointed Chairman, and Councillor A. Davis, Deputy Chairman.
Brookfield Estate.
Description.—The Estate comprises 98 flats in 10 blocks, 90 maisonettes in 19 blocks
and two cottages, giving a total accommodation for 190 families. The Estate occupies an area,
including roads, of 10¼ acres.
It is on sloping ground having a difference in level of 29 feet from south to north, is situated
within three minutes of Parliament Hill Fields, and has the wooded heights of Highgate and
Hampstead as a background.
The lay-out was governed by the winding road through allotments called Croftdown
Road, leading from good modern residential property at the south end, to Highgate New Town
at the north end. A second through road has been formed from near the upper end of Croftdown
Road extending to and in continuation of St. Alban's Road, with a subsidiary crossroad
at the south end known as Kingswear Road.
The upper part of the estate is laid out for flats, four stories in height, in blocks of 8, 10
and 16, of three and four rooms, besides cooking sculleries, bathrooms, &c., and the lower
portion with maisonettes, in blocks of four and five, of three and five rooms each, besides
cooking scullery, bathroom, &c., finishing with a pair of six-room cottages.
An allotment is planned for each flat in the rear of the buildings, and each maisonette
has its own front and back gardens with direct access. The front boundary and party fences are
formed of oak posts and wire strands planted with privet.
The blocks of buildings are set out on centre lines with clear vistas between each block,
or terminated at the end of roads by a building and each one placed so as to obtain the maximum
amount of sunshine and air in and around the buildings.