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185
A site on the estate has been let for 21 years at a rent of £20 a year to the Oxford
and Bermondsey Boys' Club, for the purpose of erecting a semi-permanent building
for use as a boys' club.
During the year the Council decided to purchase one of the three licensed
premises on the area and not to retain the licence, and in the case of another of these
premises, the site of which is required for the redevelopment of the area, the Council
decided to settle the claim of the freeholders on a re-instatement basis subject to
the consent of the licensing justices.
The Bell-lane and Ellen-street scheme under Part I. of the Housing Act, 1890,
provides for the clearance and reconstruction of two areas known as the Bell-lane
area, Spitalfields (4 acres) and the Ellen-street area, St. George-in-the-East (1½
acres). Under the scheme as confirmed, dwellings have to be provided for the
accommodation of 1,705 persons of the working classes, of whom not fewer than 600
are to be accommodated within the Bell-lane area, and the remainder elsewhere.
The name Holland estate has been selected for the area when reconstructed.
The Council on 23rd February, 1926, approved a capital estimate of £39,495 for the
erection of the first two blocks of dwellings on the estate (Bernard House and Carter
House), comprising 60 tenements and 12 shops, and accepted the tender of Chessums,
Limited, amounting to £36,216, for the building work. At the end of the year
Carter House was nearing completion and the work on the foundations of Bernard
House was in progress.
Bell-lane and
Ellen-street
scheme.
During 1926, the Council accepted the offer of the Stepney Metropolitan Borough
Council to instal electric lighting to the dwellings on the estate, free of cost to the
Council, and the offer of the Commercial Gas Company to instal gas for cooking
purposes, etc., at a charge of £2 10s. a tenement.
During the year the Council decided to enter into an agreement with the owners
of a beerhouse in the Ellen-street area involving an exchange of lands and the
rebuilding of the beerhouse.
The scheme for dealing with the two unhealthy areas, known as the George'sroad
and Brand-street areas, Holloway (4¾ acres), was confirmed by the Minister
of Health on 31st July, 1925. Altogether, 1,320 persons of the working classes will
be displaced, and the scheme requires the provision of rehousing accommodation
for an equal number of persons of whom not fewer than 900 must be accommodated
on the cleared areas. The areas when reconstructed will be known as Ring Cross
estate.
George'sroad
and
Brand-street
scheme.
The properties forming the George's-road area included in the scheme when
confirmed consisted of two detached groups of houses about 60 yards apart, but the
properties in the intervening space were subsequently purchased by agreement for
the purpose of improving the area for redevelopment.
On 20th July, 1926, the Council approved a capital estimate of £33,917, subsequently
reduced to £30,873, for the erection of two blocks of dwellings (Branston
House and Rollit House) on the Brand-street area. The dwellings have been designed
to contain 48 tenements, comprising 146 rooms with accommodation for 292 persons,
together with 8 shops. The tender of Messrs. R. Woollaston and Company, amounting
to £28,642, 16s. 3d. was accepted for the building work, and at the end of the year
the excavations and concreting for the foundations were in progress.
The scheme made by the Council for the clearance of three insanitary areas
in the metropolitan borough of Poplar, known as the Baker's alley (1⅓ acres), Birchfield-street
(¾ acre) and Bromley-place (¾ acre), areas was confirmed by the Minister
of Health, in 1924. The confirming Order specifies that accommodation for not
fewer than 190 of the total of 740 persons required to be housed shall be provided
on the Birchfield-street area.
Bakei's-alley,
Birch field-
street and
Bron
place scheme.
On 20th July, 1926, the Council approved a capital estimate of £19,677 for the
erection of a block of dwellings on the Birchfield-street area to be known as Birchfield
14172 N 2