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191
Housing of the Working Classes.
above referred to, the Council decided, on 3rd May, 1910, to abandon the proposal agreed to in 1905
to form a new 40 feet road alongside the railway viaduct between Friar-street and King James-street.
Certain premises in Upper Green-street used for storage purposes which it would have been necessary
to demolish for the proposed new road, were no longer required for the purposes of the scheme ; and
the scheme was accordingly modified, pursuant to an Order of the Local Government Board of 3rd
November, 1910, so as to exclude the premises from the operation of the scheme.
Tabard.
street
Scheme.
During the year the Council decided to proceed with an important scheme for the clearance of
three unhealthy areas known as the Tabard-street and Grotto-place areas Southwark, and the Crosbyrow
area Bermondsey, which were the subject of official representations under Part I. of the Act of
1890 by the district medical officers of health. The areas, which comprise about 16½ acres, are larger
than the area dealt with under any clearance scheme yet undertaken by the Council or the late Metropolitan
Board of Works.
Tabardstreet
area.
The Tabard-street area as represented is about 13½ acres in extent, contains 649 houses, and
has a population of 3,552 persons, nearly all of whom are persons of the working class. The area is
situated between Long-lane and Great Dover-street and is in two detached sections lying north and
south of the London County Council school in Westcott-street. The characteristic feature of the area
is the narrowness of the streets and the bad arrangement of both streets and houses. George-court
is, in parts, only 3 ft. wide ; Little Britain 5 ft. ; Wickham-court, 7½ ft. ; and several other streets
do not exceed 10 ft. in width including the footways. Out of 32 streets in the area no less than 13
are culs de sac. The houses in Tabard-street are three storeys in height, but nearly all the other houses
on the area consist of two storeys and contain either two or four rooms. The houses generally are
worn out; the walls of many of the ground floor rooms present evidence of dampness or have been
match boarded in such a way as to conceal the dampness ; and the staircases are, in a number of
instances, narrow, dark and dangerous. The yards of some of the houses are at a much lower level
than the houses themselves and are approached by narrow, dark staircases. These yards are very
small and very little sunlight and fresh air can reach them. The whole of the area is populated by a
very poor class, many of the inhabitants occupying cheap furnished rooms.
Grotto-place
area.
The Grotto-place area, which comprises some 1½| acres, lies to the west of Southwark-bridge-road,
and includes a number of badly-arranged courts most of which are culs de sac, and some houses in Great
Suffolk-street. The area contains 138 houses, all of which, except those fronting on Great Suffolkstreet,
are one or two storeys in height. The houses with few exceptions are quite worn out, and the
inhabitants, who number 567, are of the poorer class.
Crosby-row
area.
The Crosby-row area, which is situated on the eastern side of Crosby-row between Snow sfields
and Long-lane, Bermondsey, is about one acre in extent and contains 88 houses occupied by
474 persons, most of whom are very poor. The houses in Crosby-row are two and three storeys in height
and a few have basements. Nearly all the other houses on the area are two storeys in height
and contain two, three and four rooms. These latter houses are situated in courts approached either
by narrow archways or passageways from Crosby-row. The courts are some feet below the level of
the pavement of Crosby-row. The houses generally are worn out, are surrounded by high buildings,
and have insufficient space about them. Many of them show signs of dampness or are matchboarded
in such a way as to conceal the dampness.
Death rates
The average yearly death rate from all causes of mortality in the Tabard-street area during
the five years 1904-8 was 36.8 per thousand or more than twice that of the metropolitan
borough of Southwark, which was, in the same period, considerably above that of London as a whole.
The death rate from phthisis in the area was nearly twice that of the borough and nearly three times
that of London. The death rate from the principal epidemic diseases was more than two and a-half
times that of the borough and more than three and a-half times that of London.
The Grotto-place and Crosby-row areas are small for the calculation of reliable death rates,
but the figures obtained show that in the fomer area the death rate from all causes was more than
twice, that from phthisis more than three times, and that from the principal epidemic diseases nearly
one and a-half times that of Southwark. The death rate from all causes in the Crosby-row area was
more than one and a-half times, and that from phthisis nearly one and a-half times, and that from
epidemic diseases more than two-and-a-half times the corresponding death rate of Bermondsey.
Scheme.
The Council was greatly impressed with the necessity for drastic action being taken to remedy
the evil conditions prevailing, and on 8th November, 1910, it decided to make an improvement scheme
under Part I. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, in respect of all three areas. The
Grotto-place and Crosby-row areas were the subject of official representations in 1899 and 1904, and
although the Council had then felt a difficulty in dealing with these areas separately on account of their
limited size, it was thought that if a scheme was proceeded with for the clearance of the larger (Tabardstreet)
area the opportunity should be taken of reconstructing the two smaller areas at the same time.
As regards the limits of the scheme, the only departure which it was found necessary to make
from the exact areas described in the official representations was the inclusion of certain property on
the north side of Staple-street to enable that thoroughfare to be widened to 40 ft. This had the effect
of increasing the population of the Tabard-street area to 3,596 persons. The numbers of persons of
the working class occupying the houses on the three areas are as follows—Tabard-street, 3,517 ; Grottoplace,
567 ; Crosby-row, 468 : or 4,552 in all.
Rehousing.
In order to decide the amount of accommodation which the Council should provide on the
areas themselves for rehousing the persons who would be displaced, inquiries were made to ascertain
the number of vacant working-class rooms in the neighbourhood. These inquiries were made within a