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necessary buildings on half the area cleared, subject to the dwellings being built in conformity
with the plans approved in 1901. On 18th March the Housing of the Working Classes Committee
reported that the borough council had resolved to offer prizes for the best design for laying out
and building on this area.
Queen Catherine-court area, Stepney.—A contract for the erection of buildings to accommodate
108 persons on this site was sealed on 10th April.
Proceedings of the Council under Part III. of the Act.
Millbank site, Westminster.—During the year the erection of buildings on this site was completed.
On 6th May the Housing of the Working Classes Committee reported that Lawrencebuildings
were ready for occupation. They provide accommodation for 296 persons in 50 tenements
of two rooms and 16 tenements of three rooms. On 13th May the Committee reported
that Morland-buildings were ready for occupation. They provide accommodation for 300 persons
in 30 tenements of two rooms and 30 tenements of three rooms. On 29th July the Committee
reported the completion of Wilkie-buildings, providing accommodation for a like number of
persons in similar tenements, and on 7th October, of Gainsborough-buildings, accommodating
396 persons in 2 tenements of one room, 38 tenements of two rooms and 40 tenements of three
rooms. Of the 895 tenements, 588 were occupied by persons who had removed from other parts
of Westminster.
Reid's Brewery site, Holborn.—On 21st October the Housing of the Working Classes Committee
reported that Block D was ready for occupation, the building accommodating 250 persons
in 15 tenements of three rooms and 40 tenements of two rooms; and on 2nd December the Committee
approved an estimate of £51,896 for the erection of buildings on the Clerkenwell and
Leather-lane frontages of the area.
Caledonian Asylum site, Islington.—On 11th March the Housing of the Working Classes
Committee reported the completion of the purchase of this site for £16,000.
Old Oak-common-lane site, Hammersmith.—On 25th March the Council resolved to purchase
about 50 acres of land in this locality at a cost of £30,000.
Re-housing of persons displaced by street improvements.
Holborn to Strand Improvement.—On 24th June the Council approved the estimate of
£29,098, and the working drawings, specification and bills of quantities of Thackeray, Dickens
and Coram buildings, Herbrand-street, for the accommodation of persons displaced by this improvement,
and on 24th July accepted a tender amounting to £26,059 for the erection of the
buildings, which will accommodate 680 persons in 20 tenements of one room, 100 tenements of
two rooms and 45 tenements of three rooms.
York-road, Garratt-lane and Merton-road Improvements.—On the 29th July the Council
approved an estimate of £26,720, together with the working-drawings, specification and bills of
quantities in respect of the erection of two blocks of buildings on a site in York-road, Battersea,
for the accommodation of persons to be displaced by these improvements, and on 7th October
ordered the seal of the Council to be affixed to a contract for the erection of these (Durham)
buildings at a cost of £23,000.
Displacement of persons of the working class.
On December 16th the Housing of the Working Classes Committee reported on applications
under the Building Act which involved displacement of persons of the working class. These
applications received since November 13th involved the displacement of 6,130 persons, of which
it was proposed to rehouse 2,772 persons, leaving 3,358 persons unprovided for.
In November the Committee reported on the report of the Joint Committee of Parliament,
which sat during the year to consider the question of the revision of Standing Orders of Parliament,
requiring the insertion in private bills of provisions for the rehousing of persons of the working
class displaced in pursuance of the powers conferred by these bills upon their promoters. The
proposed model clause, inter alia, requires the company, within one month after the acquisition of
any land, to send to the Secretary of State, to the County Council and to any district authority concerned,
particulars of the lands acquired, the number of houses occupied in whole or in part by
persons of the labouring class occupying the houses at the time of acquisition, and such information
as can be obtained of the number who occupied them during the preceding five years, and who
have been displaced in view of such acquisition. The Secretary of State shall, after such inquiry
as he may think fit, determine the number of persons concerning whom an obligation of
rehousing has arisen, and enter the same in a register, and shall give a certificate to the
company specifying their obligations. This number, however, must not exceed the number
entered in the register for which the company have not already provided dwellings, and in
determining this number the Secretary of State may have regard to the following considerations—(a)
To what extent, if at all, accommodation of a suitable kind for persons of the
labouring class in the neighbourhood of the land acquired is or will be insufficient after
the displacement ; (b) whether the number of persons entered in the register as occupying any
houses described therein is greater than the number permitted by law in the district in which
the houses are situated; and (c) to what extnt, if at all, the company has given, or is prepared
to give, financial assistance to any schemes or arrangements of the London County Council, or any
local authority or other persons for the provision of labouring class dwellings, or for the transference
of industries and the persons of the labouring class dependent thereon to more suitable
localities. With respect to schemes under this section (a) the time within which a scheme is to be
carried out shall be fixed therein; (b) the Secretary of State may direct provisions to be inserted
in any scheme requiring the new dwellings to be completed fit for occupation before the persons in
respect of whom the scheme is made are displaced, and prescribing the rents to be charged, and (c)