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240
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1913.
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.
The Council's dwellings, on 31st December, 1913, contained accommodation for 57,196
persons, reckoned on the basis of two persons a room.
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* 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 1912 inclusive, gives the number of working-class tenements and rooms
provided in each borough or district and the rents at which they are let or to be let, and also particulars
of the demolitions which have taken place in each district during the year. The return for 1912 shows
that for the first time since this record was taken in 1902 there has been a net reduction for the year
in the amount of working-class accommodation in the county of London, the number of rooms
demolished (6,790) having exceeded the number provided (4,167) by 2,623. In extra-London, i.e.,
the area known as Greater London exclusive of the county of London, the number of rooms provided
was 13,141 and the number demolished 807, or a net addition of 12,334. The average weekly
rents at which the new dwellings were let or to be let were, during 1912, 3s. 5¾d. a room in the central
districts of London, 2s. 7d. in the outer districts of London and 2s. 4¼d. in the extra-London districts.
During the year the Council published a report dealing with the distribution of the workingclass
population in and around London and the trend of development in suburban districts, as to areas
which are yet unbuilt upon, as to districts which are not adequately provided with cheap travelling
facilities, and as to the services of motor omnibuses to and from such districts.†
A revised account of the Council's housing work up to 31st December, 1912, has been published.‡
New working-class
accommodation.
Housing
development
and workmen's
fares.
History of
housing
question
* New working-class accommodation.
† Housing development and workmen's fares.
‡ Housing of the Working Classes in London, 1855-1912.