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177
being licensed premises, he was not entitled to award any compensation for trade
disturbance or loss of trade. An appeal by the claimants to the Court of Appeal
for the decision to be set aside was disallowed.
During the year the Council had under consideration the question of the height
to which habitable rooms in its houses should in future be constructed. In the County
of London the question is governed by the London Building Act, 1894, which requires
the height of habitable rooms to be not less than 8 ft. 6 ins. The Council had
previously applied this standard to all houses on its estates, whether such houses
were within the scope of the Act or not, but on 26th January, 1926, the Council
decided to restrict the height of rooms in its houses outside the County of London
to 8 feet in those districts where such a height was permitted by the local building
by-laws.
Height of
rooms.
Since the war the Council has, up to 31st December, 1926, completed 15,903
houses and flats, which contain a maximum accommodation on the basis of two
persons a room for about 120,424 persons. The houses and flats completed during
the year 1926 totalled 4,643 with accommodation for 34,650 persons. Altogether
since the completion of the first dwellings in 1894, the Council has provided accommodation
for about 178,728 persons in 25,874 tenements and houses and three
lodging-houses with 1,880 cubicles. These figures cover the whole of the Council's
housing operations for the periods mentioned, including rehousing in connection
with schemes for the clearance of unhealthy areas and other public improvements.
Houses, etc.
completed.
The programme of work in hand is very considerable, comprising the erection
of about 15,000 additional houses under Part III. of the Housing Act, 1925, apart
from the rehousing required under slum clearance schemes.
The Minister of Health is empowered to make contributions from the Exchequer
towards the expenses incurred by local authorities in carrying out improvement
schemes under Part II. of the Housing Act, 1925, such contributions being limited
to one-half of the estimated average annual loss. The Minister has intimated that
he is prepared to consider proposals for the County of London involving contribution
from the Exchequer amounting to £50,000 a year, and a comprehensive programme of
slum clearance is being carried out by the Council. The schemes now in operation or
about to be commenced are 12 in number, and include 22 separate areas comprising
91 acres. The displacement of 25,691 persons of the working classes is involved and
rehousing accommodation for about an equivalent number has to be provided, of
whom 17,470 have to be accommodated within the limits of the improvement areas
Particulars of the schemes are given later.
Unhealthy
areas.
Particulars of the Council's scheme for the administration of the subsidy provisions
of the Housing, etc., Act, 1923, were set out in the Annual Report for 1923,
Vol. III., pp. 132-3; for houses not completed before October, 1927, the amounts
of the Council's contributions will be governed by the conditions of the
State grant as modified by the Housing Acts (Revision of Contributions) Order,
1926. Up to 31st December, 1926, the Council had approved proposals submitted
by private builders for the erection of 2,351 houses to qualify for subsidy on completion,
the number of houses approved during the year being 679.
Building
grants.
Particulars of the Council's housing operations during the year are as follows:—
The estate known as Becontree, situated in the County of Essex between
Chadwell Heath on the north and Ripple Road on the south, comprises about 2,768
acres, and was purchased with the aid of compulsory powers obtained in 1920.
The development of the estate, which has been entrusted to C. J. Wills and Sons,
Limited, on a cost basis with a variable fee to the contractor, is being carried out in
sections, and is being proceeded with from three different directions—viz., the northwest,
or Ilford section; the south-east, or Dagenham section; and the north-east,
or Valence section.
Becontree.