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192
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1910.
radius of approximately one mile from Tabard-street on the south side of the Thames, the district
covered including the whole of the metropolitan borough of Southwark and about one-half of the
metropolitan borough of Bermondsey. The total number of houses and tenements found to let in the
whole area was 1,784, containing 5,977 rooms, of which 1,807 may be described as in good condition
and 3,707 as in fair condition. The total number of empty rooms, viz., 4,764 in Southwark, and 1,213
in Bermondsey, is equivalent to about 5 per cent, and 3.5 per cent, of empties respectively, and there
is apparently vacant accommodation in the vicintiy of Tabard-street for a larger number of persons
than will be displaced from the represented areas.
The demand for accommodation in block dwellings in London is decreasing, and there is no
very great demand for tenements in the ordinary block dwellings in the neighbourhood of the Tabardstreet
area. This, no doubt, is largely due to the general outward movement of London population,
and with increasing facilities for cheap and rapid locomotion, this migration from the crowded central
districts is likely to continue. It is now quite possible for a working man to obtain more and better
accommodation in the suburbs at rents which are low enough to enable him to bear the cost of travelling
to and from his work at no greater, or very little additional, expense for house accommodation and
travelling together, than he would have to pay for house accommodation alone in or near the commercial
centres. In all the circumstances, and particularly in view of the large amount of vacant
accommodation in Southwark and Bermondsey, the Council thought that it would be inadvisable to
erect new dwellings on the cleared sites sufficient to rehouse all the people who would be displaced, as a
building scheme in this district on such a large scale would probably be attended with unfavourable
financial results owing to the difficulty in letting the tenements. The Council considered it desirable
however, that accommodation for a substantialn umber should be provided on the area of displacement;
and in determining the amount of such accommodation regard was paid to the number of persons whose
occupations rendered it unlikely that they could remove to any great distance from their present
homes. Having considered the question from all points of view, the Council arrived at the conclusion
that the requirements of the case would be met by erecting dwellings on the Tabard-street are a to
accommodate 2,450 persons.
Open space.
There is great need for additional public open space in the locality, and it was therefore decided
that the central portion of the Tabard-street area, about 5 acres in extent, should be laid out as
a public open space, and that the requisite rehousing accommodation should be provided in fivestorey
balcony block dwellings overlooking the open space which would, however, be open to the road
on two sides. It is anticipated that dwellings so favourably situated will readily let. The remainder
of the Tabard-street area, comprising about 3 acres, and the whole of the two smaller areas will be
utilised for commercial purposes.
Street
widenings
The street widenings and extensions for which provision has been made in the scheme may
briefly be described as follows :—Roads will be formed on each side of the open space ; two of these
will be new streets, and two will consist of widenings of Tabard-street and Pardoner-street. The road
on the north side of the open space will be continued in an easterly direction so as to provide through
communication between Long-lane and Tabard-street. Staple-street will be widened, and Globestreet
will also be widened between Tabard-street and Violet-place. On the detached (southern) portion
of the Tabard-street area, Little Hunter-street, Tabard-street, Law-street and Lansdowne-place will
be widened, and the last mentioned thoroughfare will be continued to meet Little Hunter-street.
On the Grotto-place area a new road will be constructed so as to form a continuation of Lant-street
and emerging into Great Suffolk-street at King's-court, about 50 yards north of Sturge-street. On
the Crosby-row area, Crosby-row and Snowsfields will be widened within the limits of the area, and
a new road will be formed from Crosby-row on the site of Porlock-place. All the new streets will be
made 40 feet wide and the existing roads, where widened, will be made of the same width.
Cost.
The gross cost of the scheme is estimated at £473,300, and the net cost, after deducting the
estimated value of the surplus lands and rehousing sites, at £387,700. The erection of new dwellings
to accommodate 2,450 persons as proposed will involve additional expenditure approximately estimated
at £116,375.
The date fixed for the holding of the Local Government Board inquiry into the scheme was
26th April, 1911.
Bangorstreet
area.
During the year a complaint, signed by t velve ratepayers in the county was made to the
Council's medical officer of health under section 5 (2) of the Housing of the Working Classes Act,
1890, with regard to the alleged unhealthiness of an area in the Royal Borough of Kensington, comprising
Bangor-street, Crescent-street, and those parts of Sirdar-road and St. Anne's-road which lie
between Bangor-street and Crescent-street. In accordance with the provisions of the above-mentioned
section the medical officer made to the Council an official representation, stating the facts of the case,
and giving his opinion that neither the said area nor any part thereof was an unhealthy area ; and
notification to this effect was sent bv him to the signatories.
Part II.
schemes.
Apart from schemes which the Council has itself undertaken under Fart II. of the Act of 1890,
the Council co-operates with metropolitan borough councils in dealing with small insanitary areas.
Generally speaking, the Council contributes a fixed proportion, one-half or one-third, of the net cost
of carrying the schemes into effect and has the power of approving the plans of any new dwellings which
are to be erected on the cleared areas. Ten schemes have been undertaken, eight of which have
been completed. Schemes for the clearance of two areas known as the Chapel-grove and Eastnor-place
areas, St. Pancras, have been sanctioned by the Local Government Board, and confirmed by Parliament,
but no steps have yet been taken by the local authority for carrying out the schemes.