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63
The Boundary-street area was represented by Dr. Bate, the medical officer of health of Bethnalgreen,
in July, 1890. The population of the area was 5,719, and the number of persons provided
with house accommodation after completion of the scheme is 5,524. The cost of acquisition of the
land and buildings was £311,111 up to the 31st March, 1900. The cost of roads, paving, &c., up to
the 31st March, 1900, was £41,000; the estimated value of the land for the purposes of the erection
of artisans' dwellings was £63,010, and the cost of the buildings was about £270,000, the final cost
not having yet been ascertained.
The large sum expended in the improvement of this area has so often been referred to as if
this sum were merely the cost of the accommodation which has been provided under the scheme that
I may allude, in this report, to one aspect of the work of carrying out improvement schemes
under the Housing of the Working Classes Act which is often misapprehended, and for which
the name of the Act under which the improvements are effected is perhaps responsible. The primary
object of Part I. of the Act is not to provide artizans' dwellings but to secure the removal from the
midst of the community of houses which are unfit for habitation, and the faults of which are in large
degree due to bad arrangement. Where houses are thus situated, and are in a number of ownerships,
rearrangement can only be carried out by vesting the property in one ownership, that of a public
authority, who can then by the making of new streets, and by complete rearrangement of the area,
ensure that the conditions which in future will exist are such as are needed for the health of the
inhabitants. The chief value of the Act is therefore not so much the provision of house accommodation
which is fit for habitation as the abolition of houses which are dangerous to health. Part I. is not
therefore in itself so much a housing act as an Act for the removal of nuisances on a large scale. With
the demand for house accommodation, which will always exist in the Metropolis whatever steps may
be taken to provide additional house accommodation for the working classes, houses on the unhealthy
area will continue to be occupied so long as they exist, and the procedure for obtaining the closing of
unhealthy houses under Part II. of the Act provides no adequate remedy for conditions due in large
degree to bad arrangement. The cost of clearing unhealthy areas is undoubtedly heavy, but it is the
outcome of insufficient control over building operations in the past and it emphasizes the necessity of
such control over buildings which are being erected at the present time as will obviate any necessity
of repetition of the work of clearance in the future. It is only the existence of a sufficiently comprehensive
building law, and the wise acceptance of conditions, which experience shows to be necessary
in the houses of the poorer classes of the community, that will eventually obviate the necessity of
improvement schemes under the Housing of the Working Classes Act.
Churchway, St. Pancras—The work of acquiring the property of the Churchway area proceeded
during the year and the Council having acquired the leasehold interest of the property on the eastern
side of Churchway, proposed to agree with the freeholder in the erection of artizans' dwellings by the
freeholder upon this part of the area. In May, however, the Housing Committee reported that the
Court of Chancery had declined to give its sanction to the arrangement, and the freeholder was
therefore prevented from co-operating with the Council in the manner proposed. In December the
Council resolved to retain in their possession this part of the area, and made application to the
Secretary of State for permission to erect artizans' dwellings.
Trafalgar-road, Greenuich—In August, 1899, the Council authorised the Housing Committee
to invite tenders for the erection of twenty-one cottages, the working drawings, specifications, and
estimate of £10,192 of Mr. Rowland Plumbe, being accepted. It was provided that each cottage
should contain two tenements of three rooms, one tenement on the ground floor and the other on the
first floor. The upper tenement is approached from the rear of the cottage by a flight of steps, and all
tenements have separate sculleries and water-closets. The area of the living rooms is 162 square feet
and that of the bedrooms 97 and 120 square feet.
Brook-street, Limeliouse—In June the Council accepted the tender of £4,420, for the erection of
cottages on plot II. of this area. The erection of cottages for 108 persons was commenced.
Cotton-street, Poplar—The erection was begun of buildings to accommodate 360 persons in
40 tenements of three rooms and 30 tenements of two rooms. The average size of the living rooms
was to be 144 square feet, and of the bedrooms 96 square feet. The estimated cost was £12,320.
Cable-street, Shadwell—The erection was begun of " Lowood " and " Chancery " buildings at an
estimated cost of £13,511. The buildings provide for the accommodation of 276 persons in fivestorey
balcony dwellings, having 58 tenements of two rooms and 22 tenements of one room.
The average size of the living rooms and bedrooms exceeds the minimum of 144 square feet and
96 square feet respectively.
Schemes undertaken by the Council under Part II. of the Act.
Ann-street, Poplar—The erection was begun of balcony buildings to provide for 190 persons
in 40 tenements, of which 15 will contain three rooms and 25 will contain two rooms. The average
size of the living rooms is 144 square feet, and of the bedrooms 96 square feet. The estimated cost
is £6,853.
Green-street and Pocock-strset site, Southwark—This site was acquired to provide for the
rehousing of persons displaced under the Falcon-court scheme. Plans for the erection of buildings to
accommodate 200 persons were approved, the Council having met the requirement of the Local
Government Board as to the thickness of partition walls, and the Board having withdrawn a condition
previously imposed that the occupancy of the single rooms should be limited to a childless married
couple, two girls, or two elderly persons of the same sex, and of two-room tenements to two adults
being a married couple, and two children under ten years of age.
Mill-lane, Deptford—The Housing Committee reported in November that in November, 1895,
the Council had decided that block buildings and a common lodging-house should be erected on this
area, but the Council, in deference to the views of the Greenwich Board, who desired cottage dwellings