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118
Becontree.
The Council is acquiring under compulsory orders a large estate, situated partly
in the urban districts of Barking Town and Ilford, and partly in the parish of
Dagenham, in the rural district of Romford. The total area scheduled is nearly
3,000 acres, but the full extent of the land to be purchased has not yet been determined.
In 1920, the Council made a supplementary order for the compulsory acquisition of
the "Royal Oak" beerhouse in Green-lane, which had been omitted from the
original order. After delay on account of action taken in the High Court, the order
was confirmed by the Minister of Health on 20th June, 1922.
Development operations, which have been entrusted to C.J. wills & Sons, Ltd.,
on a cost plus participating profit basis, have so far been mainly confined to what is
known as the Ilford (No. 1) section comprising about 440 acres of which nearly
104 acres lie within the rural district of Romford. Rapid progress has been made
with the development of this section, and at the end of 1922, nearly 2,300 out of
2,900 houses to be erected thereon had been completed. Another site, the
Dagenham (No. 2) section of about 59 acres in the south-eastern corner of the
estate, has been selected for immediate development. About 1,000 houses, for
which plans are ready, will be erected there, and arrangements for beginning the
work were nearly completed by the end of 1922.
Two sites for the erection of churches, one (two acres) on the Ilford section, and
the other (1½ acres) on the Dagenham section, have been sold to the Church of England
authorities for £1,300 and £600 respectively. Two sites for elementary schools,
about 2¾ and 2¼ acres in extent respectively, have also been sold for £3,300
to the Ilford Urban District Council. A site of about two acres has been let on
lease for 21 years at a rent of £15 a year to a lawn tennis club who had been for
several years in occupation of a piece of ground acquired and utilised by the Council
for the purposes of the housing scheme. Several sites on the Ilford section have been
let on building lease for 99 years for the erection of shops, and on 19th December,
1922, the Council decided itself to build, at an estimated cost of £2,650, five small
shops (two with living accommodation and three lock-up shops). An offer to take
the shops, at a rent which will be sufficient to meet all outgoings including debt
charges, has already been accepted, and the question of erecting some further shops
is being considered. A site for the erection of some temporary shops has been let on
a tenancy for five years at a rent of £24 a year. About one-third of an acre has been
surrendered for the widening of part of Longbridge-road, in the Barking Town urban
district, the local authority undertaking to bear any tenants' compensation and the
cost of any necessary fencing. On both the Ilford and the Dagenham sections the
Council is providing allotments to be let to tenants on the estate at a rent of 2s. a rod
a year.
Bellingham.
About 176½ acres of the Bellingham estate are being developed by the erection
of 2,090 houses of which about 2,000 were finished by the end of 1922. It is intended
that the remainder of the estate (75 acres) shall be utilised for the erection of other
than working class houses. The whole of the work has been undertaken by Sir
Robert McAlpine and Sons under a contract on a cost plus participating profit basis.
On 15th February, 1922, the Council accepted a tender amounting to £3,097 for
providing, planting and maintaining for one year trees and shrubs and a quantity
of quick and privet hedges.
Two sites have been sold for church purposes, one of one acre to the Church of
England authorities for £945 and the other of two-thirds of an acre to the London
Congregational Union for £660. Several sites have been let on building lease for
99 years for the erection of shops, and also (on 12th December, 1922) a site at a rent of
£150 a year to a firm of brewers for the erection of a building at which refreshments,
including alcoholic liquors might be sold, the rent being reducible to £100 in the event
of the necessary licence not being obtained.
During 1922 the Council let on lease as playing fields for 7 and 14 years
respectively, two areas of land at an annual rent, excluding rates and taxes, for