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This is the largest and worst of those crowded collections of courts and alleys which remain to disgrace
central London, The property is held by a large number of small owners who are powerless of themselves to
effect any adequate improvement; and it is clearly one of those cases which Part I. of the Housing Act
was designed to meet. On the 23rd of November, 1894, the medical officer for the Strand district made
an official representation under section 4 of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, in respect of
this area, comprising—
Sub-area A lying between Drury-lane, Stanhope-street, Blackmore-street and Kemble-street.
Sub-area B lying between Clare-street, Clare-market, Houghton-street and Stanhope-street.
Sub-area C lying between White Hart-street, Strand, Drury-lane and Drury-court and Helmetcourt.
The Council's medical officer of health has reported with regard to the area as follows—
" The streets and courts which require reconstruction and rearrangement cover a total area of
some 3| acres. The first sub-area which lies on the north-eastern side of Drury-lane has at the
rear of houses fronting on the street a number of narrow and confined alleys. Some of these alleys
are culs-de-sac, and there is great crowding of the houses on the area, and consequent interference
with the access of light and air to the buildings. There are upwards of 800 persons to the acre in
this sub-area, the density of population being about six times that obtaining in the entire Strand
district.
" The second sub-area lies to the east of the first, and is traversed by Holies-street. The space
about the houses in this sub-area is very limited and the ventilation at the rear very defective.
" The third sub-area lies to the south of the first and between it and the Strand. It includes
several narrow, ill-ventilated courts, the houses in which have little or no space at the rear.
" The insanitary condition of the area arises especially from the close proximity of the houses
to each other, and from bad arrangement, and therefore nothing short of a scheme of reconstruction
and rearrangement will provide an adeauate remedv."

We are satisfied that the narrowness, closeness, and bad arrangement and bad condition of the
houses, courts and alleys within the area, and the want of light, air and ventilation are injurious to the
health of the inhabitants, and that the evils connected with these houses, courts or alleys, and the
sanitary defects in this area cannot be effectually remedied otherwise than by an improvement scheme.
The Council's officers, acting under our instructions, have prepared a scheme, the details of which
we now submit for the approval of the Council. It is proposed to include in the scheme all the properties
within the represented area (coloured pink on the cartoon in the Council chamber), and also the
property (coloured blue) in Kemble-street and at the corner of Holies-street and Stanhope-street which
is not referred to in the representation of the medical officer of the district, but which is included to
enable the Council to improve the re-housing area and close the whole of Holies-street, and so obtain a
much better building site than otherwise would be possible. In this, as in all schemes, the difficult
question of re-housing a portion at least of the persons displaced by the scheme has to be faced; and
to this question we have given very careful consideration. The experience which we have gained of
late years shows that but a very small proportion of the actual persons displaced from insanitary
courts and alleys by housing schemes can be induced to avail themselves of the accommodation supplied
for them in the new buildings erected for that purpose. This arises from the fact that the areas cleared
in housing schemes consist of the worst form of slums, and that people living under these conditions are
not at once prepared to accept the more stringent regulations required in improved sanitary dwellings.
There are always, however, plenty of persons living under somewhat better conditions than those of the
slums in question, who eagerly appreciate the sanitary improvements to be found in dwellings provided by
the Council, and these persons, by removing to the new dwellings, make room in their turn for those displaced
from the courts and alleys which have been destroyed. On the land which the Council is about to
acquire at Millbank, dwellings capable of accommodating more than four thousand persons can be erected.
It will be remembered that one of the considerations which induced the Council to undertake the purchase
of the Millbank prison site was that the Home Secretary agreed that dwelling-houses built thereon should
be considered as accommodation supplied for persons displaced by any scheme within two miles distance.
The Strand area in question falls within this limit. The total number of persons to be displaced is 3,038.
Of this number there is a certain proportion, such as porters at Covent-garden market, persons employed
at theatres, &c., whose occupations necessitate their living in the vicinity. For this class of persons we
propose to make provision to the extent of about 500 on the area, and in this connection it is proposed
to widen Drury-lane on its eastern side to 40 feet so far as the property taken extends. With regard to
the remainder (about 2,538) it is proposed to supply accommodation for one-half (about 1,269) on the
Millbank prison site, in accordance with the permission of the Home Secretary.

On the 15th October, 1895, the Council resolved that the area was an unhealthy area within the
meaning of the Act of Parliament, and directed the Public Health and Housing Committee to complete
the scheme, and to take all necessary steps for depositing and obtaining confirmation thereof.
Falcon-court and adjoining courts, St. George-the-Martyr, Southwark.—Falcon-court and an
adjoining court, Birdcage-alley, were the subject of a representation made under Lord Cross's Act in
1889. The Home Secretary was asked to hold an inquiry, and he decided that these courts should be
dealt with under Part II. of the newly passed Housing of the Working Classes Act of 1890. It became
clear, however, that in addition to these two courts there were other courts lying to the north of Falconcourt
which must also be dealt with, and the vestry felt unable to undertake so large a scheme of improvement
without assistance from the Council. A scheme was thereupon prepared and submitted to the
Council for dealing with the two courts already named, and also with Brent's-ccurt, Eve's-place, Redcross-place
and Maypole-alley. The vestry agreed to contribute half the cost of carrying out this scheme,
but urged that provision should be made for the persons displaced. In November, 1895, the Council