View report page

196
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1910.
being taken from the open space and half from the housing estate. The question of providing schoo
accommodation on the estate is under consideration.
Accommodation
destroyed
and provided
With a view to the Council being kept informed as to the provision of working-class accommodation
in London and the adjoining districts, a return (d) is prepared each year showing the amount of new
accommodation provided and old accommodation destroyed. The return, which has been prepared
for the years 1902 to 1909 inclusive, gives the number of working-class tenements and rooms provided
in each borough or district and the average rents at which they are let or to be let; and particulars
of the demolitions which have taken place in each district are also given separately. The return for
1909 shows that during the year the number of rooms in new dwellings in the County of London was
5,711, the number of rooms in dwellings demolished 4,569, and that the net addition to the number
of rooms was therefore 1,142. The figures in respect of the adjoining districts were 21,150, 232 and
20,918 respectively. The average rents per room at which the new dwellings were let or to be let were
during 1909, 2s. lOd. in the central districts of London, 2 s. 7d. in the outer districts of London and
2s. l?d. in the extra-London districts.
Average
rents.
Ihe task of managing the Council's dwellings, which on 31st December, 1910,contained accommodation
for 51,396 persons, is one of considerable magnitude, and a special department has been
established for the purpose.
Dwellings
completed
during the
year.
Dwellings capable of accommodating 3,344 persons were completed during the year 1910 at
an approximate cost for buildings and plans of £105,125. New buildings designed to accommodate
2,320 persons and other works incidental to the development of the various estates were undertaken
during the year, and the total cost thereof is estimated at £83,732.
The standing orders of the Council require that all dwellings shall be so designed that the cost
of erection may not exceed a sum which will enable all outgoings, interest, and sinking fund charges,
to be paid without placing a charge upon the county rate, and the rents to be charged are not to
exceed those ruling in the neighbourhood. Some of the dwellings erected by the Council do not fulfil
these requirements; but this is mainly due to the fact that the Council was obliged to build on sites
which were so unsuitable as to be unsaleable for the purpose.
Accounts.
The accounts of the Council's working-class dwellings for the year 1910-11 are given in
Appendix XIII. Parts I., II. and III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, are shown entirely
distinct from dwellings provided for rehousing persons of the working-class displaced by the Council
in connection with the carrying out of public improvements, separate balance sheets being given under
each head. The gross rent for the year of all the buildings open on 31st March, 1911, was £202,985
17s. Id., of which £146,750 lis. lOd. was in respect of dwellings provided under the Act of 1890. The
accounts show that, after making full provision for all outgoings, including debt charges, there was a
surplus for the year of £4,428 2s. 5d. on all dwellings in occupation, as compared with a surplus of
£1,107 lis. Id. for 1909-10. This result was arrived at after taking into account the deficiency,
amounting to £2,045 12s. 10d., in respect of dwellings on sites compulsorily appropriated for rehousing,
upon the working of which a deficiency was anticipated from the first owing to the character or
situation of the site. The net deficiency for the year in respect of estates in course of development
under Part III. of the Housing Act, 1890, consisting mainly of debt charges amounted to £5,826 2s. 6d.
The total financial result on all dwellings and estates from the date of the opening of the first block
in April, 1894, up to 31st March, 1911, shows that a sum of £110,111 8s. lOd. has been temporarily
defrayed out of the rates, and £922 18s. 2d. has been contributed from the tramways account. A sum
of £50,678 15s. 8d. has already been repaid out of revenue from the dwellings, leaving a net contribution
of £60,355 lis. 4d. up to 31st March, 1911. Of the sum temporarily provided out of the rates
£71,336 16s. 3d. has been required to meet the deficiency in respect of estates in course of development
under Part III. of the Housing Act, 1890. The total amount remaining to the credit of the repairs
and renewals account on 31st March, 1911, after paying for all repairs and renewals required up to
date, was £59,037 lis. 8d., while the sums annually set aside for sinking fund purposes, together
with accumulation of interest thereon, amounted to £177,973 14s. 3d. By the operation of this
sinking fund the ratepayers at the expiration of the loan period of 60 years will come into possession
of an unencumbered freehold property yielding a large profit income. The net expenditure on capital
account up to 31st March, 1911, in connection with the provision of dwellings under the Housing of
the Working Classes Act, 1890, amounted to £2,136,075 13s. Id., and under Improvement Acts
to £743,646 0s. 6d.
The Council has published an account of its housing work up to the year 1900 (e).
(a) New working-class accommodation, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909.
(e) The Housing Question in London, 1855-1900 (No. 503.)